A new Reality
by Star Ninja
Summary: MMX AU Story. By a struck of luck, or maybe fate, several orphans meet a few months from summer vacation. Little do they know that, together, they might be their city and the world's only hope. R&R!
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

_Yeah... I'm still alive. XD I know I should be woking on my other stories, but this idea was too good to pass it up. Hope you like it._

_Megaman and all related character (c) Capcom. The ocs on this story (c) to their own creators. I'm using them with their permission. R&R!_

**  
Revival: A new reality.**

_**Prologue: Hollow city.**_

A 16-year-old teen stared at the rising sun from the window of his dorm. He wore a white T-shirt, sky blue pants and light blue tennis. He had short dark brown hair and emerald green eyes. He didn't know his true name, but everybody called him X.

"It's been so many years now..." He whispered. "Life was never the same..."

"Thinking about that again?" A familiar voice asked

X turned around and smiled. A boy around 18 years old stood there in front of him. He wore a black T-shirt, dark red pants and red sneakers and a red baseball cap. He had long dark blond hair and saphire blue eyes. "Oh, good morning, Zero."

Zero and X had been friends ever since they were small kids. None of them had parents and they were raised in the same orphanage. Through good and bad times, they were together.

"You didn't answer my question." Zero said crossing his arms.

"Do I really have to? You know the answer." X said with a chuckle.

Zero nodded and they shared a small laugh. "You never change, X."

"That goes to you too." X said. "C'mon. We'd better have some breakfeast before going to school."

Zero nodded and the two headed to the kitchen. Since they were orphans, they lived off of well-fare and shared a dorm with...

"Hey guys!" A cheery voice greeted them. It was a 15-year-old boy wearing a navy blue jacket with red streaks, a black T-shirt, dark blue shorts and sneakers and a navy blue cap. He had short, light orange, brownish hair and emerald green eyes.

"Morning, Axl." X said. Axl was the youngest of the trio. They befriended him when he was taken to the orphanage and ever since then they'd been together. "You woke up early today."

"Heh, that's something new." Zero smirked. "We generally have to drag you out of your bed in the morning."

Axl scowled at that. "Knock it off, Zero. Jeez... I'm not that much of a heavy sleeper."

"Yeah right." Zero said amused.

"Okay, that's enough." X said. "We still need to pick up the girls and you two know what will happen if we're late."

"Okay. Okay. Let's go." Axl said.

The trio had breakfeast and got ready for school. X picked his sky blue hat and his blue vest while Zero got his red jacket. The three got their backpacks.

"We're ready." Zero said. "Let's go."

As the trio walked down the street, X let his mind wander again. _"Wasn't there another way?" _He thought. _"The city grew... It did become better, but at what price? War, blood and death... Was it worthy in the end?"_

"X? X!" Axl's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Axl." X said rubbing his head. "What were you saying?"

"Here come the girls." Axl replied.

Three girls walked towards them. One was sixteen years old, she wore a pink blouse, a white vest, a pink cap, dark blue jeans with a pink skirt and light pink sneakers. She had blue eyes and short dark blond hair. Her name was Alia.

The second girl was around eighteen. She wore a black blouse, purple skirt, jeans and boots and she also wore a light purple hat. She had dark brown eyes and long purple hair. Her friends called her Layer.

The last girl was the youngest of them: fifteen years old. She was wearing an aqua green jacket, green blouse, jeans a light aqua green cap and sneakers. She had light blue eyes and long blond hair braided into two ponytails. Her name was Pallette.

Like X and his friends, those three girls were orphans and grew up together. They were great friends and also shared a dorm.

"Hi, guys!" Pallette said with a happy tone.

"Hi." X said with a smile. "How are you doing?"

"We're fine." Alia said. "Let's go."

The group chatted as they all walked together to school. In no time, they got there. "Looks like we got here earlier than usual." Layer said. "We still have ten minutes until our classes start."

"Guess we can chill a bit." Zero said.

The girls sat on a nearby bench while the boys sat on the ground next to them.

As X sat down he spotted a little boy stopping in front of the school gates. "Mommy! Daddy! Hurry!" He squealed.

A young couple approached him. The woman smiled as she picked him up. "Okay, sweetheart. Let's go." She said. The kid giggled before hugging her. The couple smiled at each other and walked away.

X sighed when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Alia. "X, are you okay?" She asked worried.

"I'm fine, Alia..." X replied looking at the sky. "Just thinking..."

"About the Hollow War, right?" Zero asked.

X sighed. "I could never hide anything from you, could I?"

"You've been thinking a lot about that lately, X." Axl said. "Wanna talk about it? You don't have if you don't want to."

"Maybe... Maybe you're right." X said. "Besides, I'll go nuts if I keep thinking about it."

"Well, go ahead. We're listening." Layer said.

X took a deep breath."Okay... You know that, our home, Hollow City, was ravaged by war several years ago, right?"

They nodded. "Yeah. The war started when a crimelord known as 'Sigma' tried to take over the city." Pallette said. "That was roughly 30 years ago and the war lasted around 20. It only ended when Sigma was killed."

"That's right." X said. "All of us were born during the war... And we never got to meet our real parents... Like us, several kids grew up in orphanages and, when no one adopted them, they started living on their own when they turned fifteen..."

Silence fell over. "Even though we never lived the war... It did change our lifes..." Alia finally said.

"Exactly... After the war, the city grew and, with the development of new technology, life became better, but that only happened at the cost of countless lifes..." X said staring at the sky. "In the end... Was it worthy?"

No one knew how to answer that. Finally, after some minutes. Zero placed a hand on X's shoulder. "None of us has the answer for that." He said. "But I know one thing: we can't change the past, but we can make our future."

"Zero's right." Layer said. "It's up to us to prevent anything like that from happening again."

The others nodded. X smiled at his friends. "Thanks guys..." He said. "I'm feeling much better now."

The group smiled. "No prob, X!" Axl said patting X's back. "You know you can count with us."

Suddenly the school bell started ringing. "Well, here we go again." Pallette said getting up.

The others got us as well. "I guess so." Alia said. "So, see you guys at lunchtime."

They nodded and the group split up: X and Alia went to their class while Zero and Layer went to theirs and Axl and Pallette did the same.

Another average day at school was starting. Little did they know that day would be far from average.

_**Chapter 1: The new girl.**_

X and Alia's first class was chemistry. Nothing new for them.

"Good morning, class." Prof. Isaac, the chemistry teacher said. "Today we'll conduct an experiment about electricity and..." A knock on the door cut him off. "Just a minute class."

Prof. Isaac left the class. A few minutes later, he returned. "Class, we have a new student." He said looking at the door. "Please, come on in."

The new student walked into the class: it was a girl around sixteen. She was wearing a white jacket, a light brown blouse, white jeans and sneakers and golden bracelets on her wrists. She had lshort brown hair and light brown eyes.

"Welcome." Prof. Isaac said. "Please, introduce yourself."

The girl nodded. "My name's Star." She said with a shy look. "Pleased to meet you all."

"Since you're new, Star, you'll have to do this experiment with someone." Prof. Isaac said before glancing at the classroom. "X, Alia, is that okay with the two of you?"

X and Alia nodded. Star sat next to them. "Thanks for letting me stay with you two." She said shyly.

"Don't mention it." X said with a smile. "I'm X and this is my friend Alia."

"Nice to meet you." Alia smiled at her.

"Thanks, nice to meet you guys too." Star smiled back at them.

And so, with a new friend, class went on normally.

_At lunchtime..._

X and his friends were at the school's cafeteria having lunch. "So, who's the new student from your class?" Axl asked as he bit his sandwich.

"Her name's Star. She was transfered recently." Alia replied.

"She's a bit shy, but she seems to be a nice person." X added.

"She's new, so I think she has some trouble making friends." Layer stated.

"Speaking of her, here she comes." Zero said.

Star arrived at the cafeteria. She looked around searching for a free table.

"Why don't we ask her if she wants to eat with us?" Pallette suggested. "There's plenty of room here."

X nodded. He was about to get up when Star walked towards a table where a lone boy ate. The whole place got silent as Star stopped next to him: he was around seventeen and he was wearing a blood red T-shirt, a brown leather jacket, black jeans and red and black sneakers. He also had short, light blond hair and icy blue eyes.

"E...Excuse me?" Star said shyly. "Can... Can I sit here?"

The boy looked at her before shrugging. "Sure."

Star smiled a bit before sitting next to him. "Thanks. I'm Star."

The boy was silent at first. "Name's DMZ." He finally said.

"Nice to meet ya, DMZ." Star said before bitting an apple.

As the two were eating, the whole cafeteria was whispering and staring at them.

"Whoa... That's something you don't see everyday." Axl said.

"Yeah. That's the first time I've seen someone talking with DMZ!" Pallette added

"I'll take you two've heard rumors about him too." Alia said.

"I heard he tried to kill himself several times." Layer said. "Life must've been hard for him."

"People say he has mental problems, but I really doubt all these rumors are true." Zero said.

"Maybe people never gave him a chance." X said.

The school bell rang agaim and everybody returned to their classes.

_Later that day..._

Star walked out of the school building. _"Phew... Thank heavens!" _She thought relieved. _"My first day at the new school wasn't that bad after all."_

She was almost at the school gate when she heard someone calling. "Star!"

Star turned around and met with X and the others. "Hey, X and Alia, right?" She smiled at them. "Hi there."

"Hi, Star." X said with a smile. "These are our friends: Zero, Axl, Layer and Pallette."

Star glanced at them all and smiled. "Nice to meet you all."

"Nice to meet ya too." Axl grinned. "So, you're new here?"

"Pretty much." Star replied. "I used to live on the other side of town, but I moved away a few days ago."

"Why?" Pallette asked.

"Let's just say I had a few problems at my old school." Star replied with a shrug. "Oh, that reminds me. I still have to unpack some stuff back home."

"Can we help you with something?" Layer asked.

"Well..." Star started rubbing the back of her head. "If you guys have some time... Can you show me around? I still kinda get lost around here."

"Sure, why not?" Zero replied. "Just say the day and we'll give ya a tour."

Star smiled. "Thanks a lot, guys." She said. "I have to go now."

"We'll see you tomorrow, right?" Alia asked.

"Sure! See ya!" Star said waving good bye and running off.

"Well, she's different, but she's really nice." Pallette said.

"I guess she just needs some time to adapt." Axl said. "It's not easy being the new kid."

"Maybe... Well, no use talking about that right now." Zero said. "Let's go home."

The others nodded and the group headed back home.

_Next day..._

School started almost normaly. Everybody was talking about Star.

"Why would a girl like her hang out with that weirdo DMZ?" A male student whispered.

"Who knows? Maybe she's just as nuts as him." A female student whispered back.

Star glanced at them before sighing. _"Can't people mind their own business just for once?" _She thought while entering her class.

"Good morning, Star." X and Alia greeted her.

"Morning, guys." Star smiled. "Can I ask you two something? Why everybody's making such a fuss about the guy I sit next to yesterday?"

X and Alia glanced at each other. "Well..." X rubbed his head. "Since you're new, you don't know... There are a lot of rumors about DMZ... And none of them are really nice."

"Some people say he's goth and dangerous." Alia added. "That's why no one comes close to him."

"All because of some dumb rumors! That's ridiculous!" Star crossed her arms angry. "People should try finding the truth instead of listening to all this garbage!"

X and Alia were a bit surprised by Star's anger. "Oh, sorry about that." Star replied blushing. "This kind of stuff always made me angry... Brings some bad memories."

"That's okay." X said before the bell rang.. "Well, class is about to start."

Day went by quickly.

At lunchtime, Star sat with DMZ again and they talked with each other.

Finaly, school was over. Star was heading home when a group of older and bigger students blocked her path. "Well, if ain't the school's new star." The leader of the group teased.

"Very funny." Star crossed her arms annoyed. "What do you want?"

"Just giving ya a piece of advice, newbie: stay away from DMZ if you know what's good for you." He said.

"Well, I got an piece of advice for you, bud." Star said narrowing her eyes. "Mind your own business!"

"What did you say!" The teen yelled.

"What you heard." Star replied coldly. "What's everybody's problem with him anyway?"

"He's a weirdo. No one talks with him." One of the other teens replied.

"Well, you're talking with someone that does." Star said. "You don't like that? Screw it."

"Why you little brat!" The big teen roared.

A few feet from there, X and his friends saw the whole thing. "This is not good." Zero said.

"Yeah. Star's got herself into trouble." Axl said.

"Girls, stay here." X told Alia and the others. "We'll go help Star."

The girls nodded.

"You're going down!" The punk yelled throwing a fist at Star. She swiftly dodged it, grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder, making hit the ground hard.

Everybody watched surprised as Star dusted her clothes off. "I don't mean to be rude, but you have no right to pry on other people's business!" She said turning around only to meet X and the others. "Oh... Hi guys."

"Are you okay, Star?" X asked.

"No problem. I'm fine." Star replied.

"That was awesome!" Axl said. "How did you do that."

"Martial art classes." Star replied with a shrug. "A girl gotta know how to protect herself."

While Star was talking, the bully got up. And he was pretty mad. "You wench! Take this!" He yelled throwing a punch at her. However, someone grabbed his arm, before it could reach Star. "What the!"

Star turned around. Both her and the others were surprised to she that DMZ was the one that had stopped the bully. "Leave her alone..." He said glaring coldly at him.

The punk backed away. "You don't scare me, goth boy!" He said. "Gang, let's get him!"

"Hold it!" Zero said as he, X and Axl stood next to DMZ. "You started this, pal. If you wanna a fight, how about taking me on?"

The punk got nervous. Zero had quite a reputation for being a fierce fighter. Anyone that messed with him or his friends got a real beating. "So, what's gonna be?" Zero cracked his knuckles.

"We're outta here!" The gang yelled running away.

The punk glanced at X and the others before running away as fast as he could.

"Ha, he was just talk and size!" Axl laughed.

Star looked at DMZ and smiled. "Thanks a lot."

DMZ just looked at her before walking away.

"What was that all about?" Alia asked as she and the girls approached them.

"He doesn't talk much, but he's not a bad guy." Star replied. "People just don't understand him."

"How do you know?" X asked.

"I just know." Star shrugged. "Well, I'd better get going. I have to take care of some things. See ya around." With that she walked away.

"Well, that was different." Pallette said.

"Yeah. The rumors may be wrong after all." Layer said.

"There's only one way to find out." Zero said. "Let's keep our eyes on those two for a while."

The group nodded and they headed home as well.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Star walked down the streets. "You got yourself in quite a lot of trouble today." A voice told her.

Smiling, Star turned around. "I don't look for trouble. Trouble looks for me. You should've known that by now."

DMZ walked up to her. "That's true." He said crossing his arms. "Maybe you shouldn't hang out with me..."

"C'mon, not this talk again." Star said a bit upset. "I said it once and I'll say it again: I don't give a darn to what people say. I'm sticking with you and that's final!"

"Okay. Okay." DMZ said. "I'll walk you home."

"Thanks." Star smiled. "Say, X and his friends were really nice to help us."

"They always do that." DMZ said. "They stand up for anyone that gets in trouble with bullies and such."

"Why don't you hang out with them?" Star asked. "They all are really friendly."

DMZ didn't reply. Star sighed. _"People don't give you a chance to explain yourself, DMZ, but you don't give them a chance to understand you."_ Star thought. _"You helped me once... I'll return the favor!"_

After meeting Star, and without knowing for sure, X and his friends were in for some surprises with her and DMZ.


	2. Chapter 2

_Here I come with Chapter 2. If you don't know the drill, check chap. 1 for disclaimer. On with the show.__**  
**_

_**Chapter 2: DMZ's secret.**_

Several days have passed since X and his friends met Star. She quickly became their friends though she still spent lunchtime with DMZ who'd always talk with her while lunching.

One day, they saw DMZ walking Star home.

"They seem really close." Axl said.

"You guys think they might be childhood friends or something?" Pallette asked.

"As far as I can tell, it's possible." Alia replied. "DMZ acts more friendly when Star's around."

"Maybe she's right..." X said out loud. "Maybe people just don't understand him."

The group looked at him. "So far, it's possible." Layer said.

"Well, we can't just walk up to them and ask them." Zero said.

X looked at him and grinned. "True. Star sees us as her friends." He said. "I don't want to lose her trust. Let's give them some time. When the time comes, she'll walk with us."

The others nodded and the conversation ended.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

A few days later, X, Zero and Axl were at their home doing their stuff: X was reading a book while Axl finished his homework while listening to some music. Zero was doing some katas. Suddenly, they heard a beeping sound.

"Someone's PET is beeping." Axl said.

PET meant Personal Exploration Terminal. It was a little device that worked like a cell phone with a monitor. Also, if connected to a computer terminal it could also be used to check on news, TV, and acess the city net. Every person in Hollow City had one and X and his friends were no exception.

"I think it's mine." X said. "I'll get it."

X picked his packback and pulled out a light blue PET. He pressed a button. "X here."

A familiar face appeared on the monitor. "X? It's me, Star." Star said.

"Hey, Star." X greeted her. "What's up?"

"Could you and the others meet me at the park in twenty minutes?" Star asked. "It's really important."

X was a bit surprised by that. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"I can't explain it now. I'll be waiting." Star said hanging up.

"What is it, X?" Zero asked.

"It was Star. She wants us and the girls to meet her at the park in twenty minutes." X replied. "She said it was important."

"It must be to call us so suddenly." Axl said.

"I think so. Let's go." X said.

The trio left to pick the girls and meet their friend.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

In no time, they were at the park. "There she is!" Pallette said pointing to a bench. Star sat there.

"Guys... Thanks for coming." Star said as they approached her.

"What's wrong, Star?" Alia asked.

"Yeah. X said it was important." Layer said.

"It is..." Star took a deep breath. "It's about DMZ."

The six friends glanced at each other. "DMZ? What he has to do with it?" Zero asked.

"You guys are probably wondering why I hang out with him and why he acts more friendly when I'm around..." Star said looking at the sky. "It's because he needs help."

"What do you mean?" Axl replied.

"DMZ needs people that understand him." Star continued. "Someone that gives him a chance to show who he really is..."

**Flashback.**

"DMZ!" A female voice called. A small kid rolled over under his covers. "Come on now, the sooner you go ahead and do it, the sooner it will be over." The voice said.

"Doesn't matter, I don't care, I will just go stupid for the rest of my life." The kid said.

A female in her mid twenties walked up to the bed and uncovered the kid. It was a small boy with short blond hair and blue eyes around eight ears old.

"You don't want to make me upset do you?" The female said, as she placed a hand on the kid's head rubbing it.

"No... but it's boring!" The kid said.

"I did it, and you can too... Who knows, you might make some friends..." The female said.

Finaly the boy craddled out of bed. He walked into the dining area where another small boy was sitting. He was seven years old, had spikey redish orange hair and olive green eyes.

"Good morning, DMZ!" The boy said cheerfully.

"Meh... it would be alot better if we didn't have to go to school..." DMZ said.

"Well look who's here, have you ate yet, StarZ?" The female said.

"Not yet, Ma'am" StarZ replied.

"What do you two want to eat?" The female asked, smiling at the two.

"I don't care, whatever StarZ wants..." DMZ said.

"Well then, how about pancakes? Is that ok Melissa?" StarZ asked.

"Sure, but you two have to go to school, afterwards..." Melissa said pulling ingredients out of a cabinet.

Shortly after, StarZ, DMZ and Melissa were sitting at the table with plates full of pancakes.

"Ok you two, it's time to leave..." Melissa said handing StarZ and DMZ their back packs and lunches.

"Ok..." DMZ said grabbing his bags, followed by StarZ.

"Oh, and if the day starts to get to long for you DMZ, just remember i will be here waiting for you..." Melissa said as she walked them to the door.

"I will!" DMZ said as he and StarZ ran to school. Soon they entered the school.

"DMZ, can i ask you a question?" StarZ said, pulling on DMZ's sleeve.

"Sure, what is it?" DMZ replied.

"Is Melissa your mom?" StarZ asked.

"No... why?" DMZ said looking at StarZ.

"Well she lives with you, and she takes care of you, I just thought..." StarZ said, but was interrupted by DMZ.

"You think too much..." DMZ said, and that was the end of that topic.

After school, the two split apart.

"See you tomorrow, DMZ!" StarZ said.

"Ok!" DMZ replied as he ran toward where Melissa lived.

"Melissa, I'm home!" He yelled as he walked in dropping his bag.

"DMZ, RUN!" Melissa yelled, as DMZ saw she was tied in a chair. But before he got a chance, someone had grabbed him.

"Where do you think you're going?" A man said.

"Please, leave him out of this!" Melissa yelled.

"Fine, but this strikes agaisnt you!" The man said slapping Melissa. At that point DMZ bit the man's thumb, running off and hiding in a closet.

"Ah damnit!" He yelled. The closet door slowly cracked open, DMZ had a safe view.

"Forget him!" Another man yelled.

"Fine, let's get this over with..." The first said.

DMZ looked around, long and hard. Finaly he saw Melissa, she was blind folded, and bound not being able to move.

"Now... where is the money, little missy?" One of the men said, as they rubbed their gun across Melissa's face.

"I... I'm not going to tell you!" Melissa yelled.

"TELL ME!" The man yelled grabbing Melissa by the jaw.

"Never..." Melissa said.

"Fine then..." The man said, taking a step back pointing the gun at Melissa. She took a deep breath. DMZ saw many flashes and heard many loud sounds. He couldn't see or hear.

"Let's get out of here!" One of the men said. And shortly after they were gone. DMZ crawled out of the closet, and slowly up to Melissa.

"Melissa?" He said. But there was no response.

"MELISSA!" He yelled. Still no response. He jumped up into her lap and shook her, but her body was stiff. He started crying. Melissa was gone.

**End Flashback.**

Silence fell over the seven teens. "Melissa was DMZ's guardian. She raised him after he lost his parents to the big war and after what happened... He was crushed." Star finally said. "He fell into a deep state of depression and spent some years in a correctional facility..."

"It didn't do me any good though." A voice said.

The group turned around. DMZ came from behind a tree and walked towards them. "After I left the facility, they tried to send me to a new foster home." He continued. "Didn't work. I always ended up back to the orphanage. Either way, life was a living hell to me."

DMZ sighed. "Every day was painful..." He said looking away. "I just wanted my life to end so I could be with Melissa again... Some of the rumors you guys heard are true: I attempted suicide, but I found that doing so was harder than it seemed..."

Everybody looked at him. "I'm not proud of this, and I know it'll gross you out, but…" DMZ rolled up his left sleeve and showed his arm to the seven teens.

The gang, except for Star, gasped. Scars criss-crossed DMZ's arm. Many were in straight lines while a few wavered a bit. All of these scars were the result of purposely-inflicted wounds.

"Oh, my God..." Layer gasped, swallowing hard.

"It's addicting in a way," DMZ explained as if he was discussing the weather, his eyes studying his arm. "Every time made me feel like some of the pain had bled away. I knew it wasn't healthy, but I couldn't help myself. I just wanted the pain to stop. I tried slitting my wrists a few times, but I couldn't get myself to do it. The body resists too much to the idea of purposely inflicting injury on itself. I also have some scars on my throat and chest."

Silence. It took some moments for the gang soak up what DMZ had just said.

Star glanced at them. Alia, Layer and Pallette all had tears streaming down their faces. X also had some tears on his eyes that he tried to blink away. Axl's face was a mixture of shock and sadness while Zero, although he didn't demonstrate, Star could tell he was rather shocked as well.

"Why?" Axl asked meekly. "Why didn't you try to get help or something?"

DMZ sighed. "It's kinda hard getting help when people's always shunning you around because of who you are..." He replied. "Ever since I was a kid, I was different from the rest and, after the incident, people just kept pushing me away even more. People fear what they don't understand, and they don't even bother to try."

"That's why Star got so angry about the rumors when we told her..." Alia said out of the blue. "She knew the truth all along."

Star nodded. "That's right. DMZ and I've been friends for a while so I knew who he really is." She said.

"So, how did the two of you meet?" Zero asked.

Star sighed. "Well, I gave you guys DMZ's story, so I guess I should give you mine..." She said. "You guys remember that I moved to this school because I had a few troubles at my old one, right?"

They nodded. "Well, I had a lot of trouble..." Star continued. "I was the kind of girl that was always picked on. I was different and no one wanted to accept that so they'd pick on me, making fun of me, teasing me, picking and hiding my stuff or putting nasty nicknames on me... I had no friends there so I'd just pretend that what they were doing didn't hurt me, but it did..."

Star let out a small sob as she tried to not cry. "I tried to hide it so they wouldn't see me hurt. I managed to do so for some time but one day I couldn't take it anymore... A guy annoyed me the whole day. I asked him to stop but he didn't hear me... Finally I snapped: I grabbed him by his neck and slammed him against a wall then I punched him across the face... I was so angry, so sick and tired of being treated as a piece of garbage I just couldn't control myself..." She wipped some tears away. "When I realised what I've done, I ran away... "

X and his friends were shocked. Who would've thought that the girl that was so kind and nice to them had gone through so much, yet she was able to smile and help the others?

"A few weeks before that incident, I met someone on game forum on the web." Star continued. "We chatted about all sort of stuff. Somehow, talking with him made life a bit easier for me. We'd chat everyday for hours."

"That person... It was DMZ, wasn't he?" Pallette asked.

Star nodded before looking at DMZ. "Yeah, it was him." She replied. "He was the first real friend I've ever had... When I told him what happened, he went to my place and he comforted me the whole afternoon..."

"Talking with Star made my life better in a way." DMZ said. "And helping her dealing with her problems made me forget about my own. Of course, she soon found out about them."

"It was my idea to move to this school. This way I'd be able to be close to DMZ and to help him like he did for me." Star said. "It wasn't easy in the begining though."

"I sorta grew colder after all this time people pushed me away and I ended up pushing them as well." DMZ said. "Star was the only person stubborn enough to break down the barriers I created."

"You guys must be wondering why I'm telling you all this." Star said. "Well, I just had a feeling you were different from most people. You stood up for me and DMZ that day and you didn't judge us by what we look or what people say about us..."

"Heh, she even convinced me to tell you my story." DMZ said. "She said it was time to learn how to trust again."

"Star... DMZ..." X said. "I can't say I understand how you two feel because I don't, but now that we know, it just breaks down another barrier."

"X's right." Zero said. "It might take sometime, but we can help you."

"If you two let us do so." Alia added.

"We can't fix what's in the past." Layer said.

"But we can fix the present." Axl said.

"Together." Pallette finished.

Star wipped some tears of joy in her eyes. "I knew I was right in trusting you guys... Thanks..." She smiled before glancing at DMZ. "DMZ?"

DMZ looked at her. His eyes also had some tears and he was smiling. It was a small smile, but it was a start. "I've forgotten how it feels good..." He whispered. "... Having someone really caring about you..."

Star smiled and hugged her friend. X and the others glanced at each other and also joined them. For several minutes, they remained that way.

Despite the past ordeals, a new friendship had blossomed. It would take some time to heal their wounds, but with their new friends, Star and DMZ would be okay.

_A/N: DMZ and Star's relationship is based on a real experience. It's not easy being a teen and you're bound to get hurt in several ways during this phase. I made several friends while visiting game and anime forums and also here on and talking with them did make my life better and happier. So, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all the friends I made on the net. I love you guys!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Guess who? Here I come with chapter three. You guys should know who the gang will meet today. You know the drill: R&R!__**  
**_

_**Chapter 3: The Black Ninja, Alpheon.**_

X and his friends, along with Star and DMZ, were hanging outside the school building after class. A week has passed since Star told them her and DMZ's stories and they've been great friends since then. DMZ felt a bit unconfortable at first, but Zero changed that when he found out that DMZ was a pretty good fighter. Now the two sparred everyday.

"Jeez... Won't those two ever stop?" Pallette asked as she watched Zero and DMZ sparring.

"Guess not." Axl shrugged. "Zero loves sparring and the way he and DMZ fight, this could take a while."

"Finally! I found you!" A voice yelled.

The group watched the scene. A bulky teen was facing a boy: he was around seventeen years old with short, spikey silver hair and crimson eyes. He wore a red headband around his forehead, a black jacket, black jeans and sneakers.

"I heard you're a pretty good fighter." The bulky teen said clenching his fists. "I wanna see it for myself."

The teen just glared at him before walking away.

"Where do you think you're going!" The teen said throwing his fist at him.

With the blink of an eye, the boy fliped over him and pulled out a sharp knife. "Listen..." He said pointing the knife to the teen's neck. "Don't mess with me..."

The guy frozed. Everybody was looking at them now.

The headband teen sighed and put his knife back in his pocket before walking away.

_The next day..._

Everybody at school was talking about yesterday's incident.

"That was the first time I saw someone move like that." Alia said.

"So, the Black Ninja was challenged again." DMZ said crossing his arms.

The gang looked at DMZ. "That guy's the Black Ninja?" X asked.

"His name is Alpheon. We go to the same class." DMZ replied. "He's a loner. I did hear some people saying he's a real ninja, but no one really knows a lot about him."

"Well, with moves like those, I' woulnd't be surprised if he was ninja." Zero said crossing his arms.

The school bell rang. "We'll have to worry about that later." Layer said.

And so, the gang headed to their classes. On their way, Star and Alia talked while following X and DMZ. "So, suppose that guy's a real ninja. That makes him dangerous?" Star asked.

"Well... That knife he was holding looked quite sharp." Alia replied. "On the other hand, if he did want to hurt that guy, he wouldn't stop the way he did."

"Exactly." Star said looking at her. "That's why I don't believe in rumors."

Star was so distracted that she wasn't watching where she was going. Thanks to that, she bumped into someone. "WHOAH!" She yelled as she fell on her back.

"Star?" DMZ asked as he and X turned around.

Star rubbed her head. "Ow... That's what I get for not paying atention..."

"Are you okay? I'm really sorry about that." A voice said. "Here, let me help you."

Star felt herself being lifted. She glanced at the person and she and the others were quite surprised to see that she had bumped into Alpheon.

"I'm really sorry about that." Alpheon said. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Nah, that's okay." Star rubbed her head blushing. "It was my fault too. I wasn't paying attention either and..." The school bell rang again. "Oh-uh..."

"If we don't hurry, we're gonna get in trouble." X said.

"Wait." Alpheon said. Everybody looked at him. "You dropped this."

He gave Star her PET.

"Thanks." Star smiled. "See you around."

Star, Alia and X headed to their class. DMZ glanced at Alpheon before leaving as well. Alpheon sighed and headed to classroom.

_**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**_

Alia, X and Star were packing their stuff while talking after class.

"So, we're going to study together this afternoon, right? We can study at my house." X suggested.

"Sounds great, but I need to buy some stuff first." Star said.

"We can go with you if you want, Star." Alia said. "You're still new around here, you know."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine, Alia." Star said. "I'll meet you at your house and then we go to X's."

X nodded. "Okay, Star. I'll meet you two at three."

Star agreed. The three left the classroom.

As they headed out to meet the others, the trio spotted Alpheon walking down the hallway. He glanced at them and walked away. _"Sometimes he acts friendly and sometimes he acts distant..." _Star thought. _"Just who is he?"_

"Hey, everyone!" Axl greeted them as he and the others walked towards them. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Star shrugged. "So, everyone ready to go?"

The group nodded and they left.

_**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**_

Star looked around. She had no idea where she was. "Great..." She muttered under her breath. "I'm lost."

She spotted a computer terminal. "Bingo!" She smirked.

Star headed to the terminal and connected her PET. She tried to access the city map, but it wasn't working. "Huh? What gives?" She looked at her PET monitor. A messenge was on the screen. "Damaged? But how did that...?"

Star remembered that she had bumped into Alpheon earlier and dropped her PET. "Great... Now what?"

Looking around while trying to find something to help her find her way, Star saw Alpheon walking down the street. _"Maybe he can help me..."_ Star thought following him.

_**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**_

X glanced at his watch. "They're late..."

"Maybe Star's still at Alia's place." Axl said. "Why don't you phone her?"

Suddenly, Zero's PET started beeping. "I've got it." He said picking it up. "Hello?"

DMZ's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, Zero."

"Hey there, buddy." Zero said. "What's up?"

"Is Star with you?" DMZ asked.

"Huh? No." Zero replied confused. "She was supposed to stop by though. Why?"

"Alia phoned me ten minutes ago asking if she was with me 'cause she got no answer from her PET." DMZ replied. "I also phoned her home and got no answer."

"Okay... That's odd." He said glancing at X and Axl.

"Wait..." X said out of the blue. "Star dropped her PET when she bumped into Alpheon this morning... It must've gotten damaged."

"Okay, but where could she be?" Axl asked.

"She told me she had to buy some stuff." X replied with a frown. "And since she's still new around this place..."

"She probably got lost." DMZ sighed. "Great..."

"Well, she can't be too far." Zero said.

X nodded. "DMZ, meet us in front of the school." He said. "We'll get the girls and look for Star together."

DMZ nodded and hung up.

_**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**_

Star followed Alpheon as he walked down the street. _"I should just walk up to him and ask him already."_ She thought. _"Then again... I don't know how he'd react to that..."_

Alpheon suddenly walked into an alley. _"Guess I don't have another choice now..." _Star thought.

Star walked into the alley, but Alpheon was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd he go?" She asked herself.

"Well, what do we have here?" A low, scruffy voice mused.

Star spunned around. Three strong looking punks walked into the alley. "Hey, sweetie, got lost?" One of them mocked.

Star slowly backed away. However, she triped over an empty can and fell on her back.

"Man... Today is just not my day..." She muttered under her breath. Star tried to get up, but her right ankle hurt.

"How do you like that boys?" The head punk mocked. "Looks like we'll have to teach this girl what happens when people invade our territory."

"Leave her alone!" A voice from the skies said.

The punks looked around. "What the? Who said that?"

"I did." Alpheon replied landing in front of Star. "She did nothing to you. Let her go."

"Heh, mind your own bussiness, boy." The leader laughed. "This alley is our domain and we don't like meddlers, so outta our way."

"Make me." Alpheon hissed.

"You asked for it!" The punk yelled throwing a punch at Alpheon.

The black ninja simply grabbed his fist. "Hmpf! Cheap shot." He said punching the punk across the face.

Star and the other punks were surprised with Alpheon's agility and strenght. _"Awesome..."_ She thought.

The lead punk staggered back a bit rubbing his face. "Why you!" He roared.

The two other punks became hesitant due to what happened. "Don't just stand there, you bone-heads!" The leader yelled.

"But we're not boss…" One of them said.

"YEAH! Let's get him!" The other said.

"But then we'd be bone heads!" The first punk said.

"What?" The second asked.

" 'Cause the boss said." He replied.

The leader rolled his eyes. "Will you two stop arguing and get him!" He yelled.

"What's the matter? Can't you fight for yourself?" Alpheon mocked.

"You little!" The leader yelled. He tried to punch Alpheon again. The black ninja gave him a low kick sending him into the ground.

The other punks felt tension rising within them just after they saw their leader's butt being kicked by a kid.

"Uh.. B.. Boss?" One of the punks sttutered.

"What's the matter? Ya chicken or sumthin?" The leader snapped getting up.

Alpheon sighed. "You guys are all the same. Will you leave her alone or do I have to hurt you so that you don't forget?" He asked clenching his fists.

"RUN!" The leader yelled.

The punks ran and the ninja stood there watching them run but he suddenly fainted.

"Alpheon!" Star yelled. She crawled towards him and placed a hand on his forehead. "He's out cold... I wonder what happened..."

Star kept trying to wake up the black ninja for some minutes. Finally, Alpheon's eyes fluttered open. "Ugh... Wha?" He groaned. "You..."

"Name's Star. Thanks for the help." Star smiled blushing. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I guess so..." Alpheon said getting into a sitting position. "I guess I've been pushing myself a little bit too hard lately..."

"So, you passed out due fatigue?" Star asked.

"Yeah..." Alpheon rubbed the back of his head. "I think I've overdone training..."

"Training? So, you're a real ninja?" Star asked surprised.

"Pretty much..." Alpheon replied getting up. "Listen, how about we go somewhere else so we can talk about it?"

"Sounds good to me." Star said. She tried to get up. "Ugh... No good... My ankle hurts..."

"It looks like you've twisted it..." Alpheon stated. "Don't worry. I'll take you to the school's nursery."

Without saying anything else, he picked Star up. "Wha?" Star blushed.

"Hold tight. I'm taking the high road." Alpheon said. He swiftly climbed an emergency stairway to reach the the rooftop. "Here we go!"

Star was in awe as Alpheon carried her while he ran across the rooftops._"Wow... I've got a rooftop tour with a real ninja!" _She thought. _"Wait til I tell the gang about this!"_

_**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**_

X and the gang stood in front of X's place. They had searched everywhere, but they just couldn't find her.

"We've searched the whole neighborhood..." Alia said.

"There must be some place we haven't thought on looking..." Layer said. "She couldn't just have vanished in the air..."

The group became silent as they tried to figure out where their friend could be.

Axl suddenly looked up. "What the!" He said. "Guys, look!"

The gang looked up. They saw Alpheon running across the rooftops while carrying someone.

"Whoa... Was that...?" Pallette asked.

"No doubt about it. It was Alpheon." Zero replied.

"And he was carrying Star!" DMZ said. "I'm sure it was her."

"He headed to the school." X said. "If we hurry, we might be able to catch up."

The others nodded. The group ran off.

_**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**_

Star and Alpheon were at the school's nursery. "Hmm... It doesn't look serious, Star." The nurse said examning Star's ankle. "I'll bandage it so it'll heal fine."

"Okay." Star said as the nurse wrapped her ankle with some bandages.

"There you go." She said. "Now, your ankle might feel a bit sore for a few days, but it'll be fine."

"Thanks, ma'am." Star said getting off the examination table. She glanced at Alpheon. "Well, shall we get going?"

Alpheon nodded and the two walked out of the nursery building. "So, what are you going to do now, Star?" Alpheon asked.

"Well, I need to find my friends." Star replied. "They're probably worried about me since I didn't phone or something."

"Any ideas where they might be now?" Alpheon asked.

"Star!" They heard someone calling.

"That answers your question?" Star said as she saw X and the others ran towards them. "Hey guys!"

"We've searched all over for you. Are you okay?" X asked.

"Except for my ankle, I'm fine." Star replied.

"What happened?" Alia asked.

"Well... I got lost..." Star blushed. "I didn't called you guys for help 'cause my PET's not working. Anyway, while I was trying to find my way back I had a run in with some punks... If it wasn't for Alpheon, I'd be in a huge mess."

"He helped you out?" Axl asked. Alpheon nodded.

"Yup, you should've seen it! He beat a punk with a single punch and a low kick!" Star said with a smirk. "The other two turned out to be two big chickens and they ran away. After that, Alpheon brought me to the nursery to have my ankle checked."

"So that's why he was carrying you." Layer pointed out.

"Huh? You saw us?" Alpheon asked.

"Yeah. On the rooftops." Pallette said. "You're pretty agile."

"Now I see why people call you the Black Ninja." Zero said.

"It's not a nickname I'm proud of." Alpheon said frowning. "People fear you and treat you as an outcast. They don't even try to understand you."

"I can understand that." DMZ said. "So, how did you become the black ninja?"

"Well... I rarely talk with people. And I also used to go to a ninja dojo." Alpheon started.

"A Ninja dojo?" X asked.

"Yeah. Most people don't know, but there's a ninjitsu master that is also a survivor from the Hollow War. He teaches orphans the art of ninjitsu." Alpheon explained before frowning. "I mean... He used to. Two months ago he passed away. He was like a father to me..."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Pallette said.

"That's okay." Alpheon smiled weakly. "Anyway, the reason people call me Black Ninja is, besides the fact that I'm a ninjitsu student, is because I don't socialize at all. It's kinda hard trying to get to know other people when you don't even know yourself."

"What do you mean?" Axl asked.

"I have no memory of my childhood." Alpheon replied. "I'm an orphan like most teens here, but I don't even know my true name!"

The gang exchanged glances.

"Several months ago, I was found by an old man inside a dark alley. He said that I was out cold with several bruises on my body and a huge wound on my head... This man, who took me in and nursed me back to health, named me Alpheon." Alpheon said glancing at the sky. "I can't remember anything that happened before that... All I have from my past is this headband I wear. I can't remember who gave it to me, but I wear it hoping it'll help me find who I truly am.."

Silence fell over the group of teens. "So, you're always alone because you're trying to figure out who you really are." Zero finally said.

"Yeah... I try to avoid getting into trouble, but it doens't work sometimes." Alpheon said.

"Like yesterday?" DMZ crossed his arms.

"Yeah." Alpheon rubbed the back of his head. "That guy's been annoying me for a while... I tried to ignore him, but he wouldn't stop. I got sick of that, but I didn't want to fight him, so I scared him with my knife."

"Take it from me, I know how you feel." Star said. Alpheon looked at her confused. Star giggled. "Don't let the pretty face fool ya. I also have a knack for getting into trouble."

Alpheon chuckled at that. "I noticed." He said before sighing.

"Are you okay?" Alia asked.

"Yeah... Just a bit tired." Alpheon replied. "I haven't slept well lately and I've been training harder too. It's been like that since my master passed away..."

"Being hard with yourself won't help you know." Layer said.

"I know, but eversince sensei passed away, I've felt more alone than usual." Alpheon said. "Training would make me forget the sadness for a while, but it'd come back when I went to bed."

"Well, you don't have to be sad anymore." Star said out of the blue.

Alpheon glanced at her, confused. "Star?"

"You're a friendly and caring guy, Alpheon. I've already noticed that when you bumped into me this morning. And the way you protected me from those scums and carried me so I could get my ankle checked proved that." Star said. "I want to be your friend. I know nothing can replace the love and care your sensei gave to you, but maybe some friendship can heal the loneliness you feel and, who knows, even help you regain your memory."

Alpheon stared at her surprised. "Star... I... Thanks..." He smiled.

"Well, a friend of Star's a friend of mine." Axl grinned as he patted Alpheon's back.

"I agree." X said smiling. "You can hang out with us if you want, Alpheon. We'd be more than happy to have you as our friend."

The others nodded. Alpheon could only smile. "Thanks, everyone."

"Then it's settled. We have a new member in our group." Zero said. "At least I should finally have a new challenge when I spar."

Pallette rolled her eyes. "Zero, can't you think about something else beside sparring?"

"Hey, I'm a fighter. And fighters need challenges." Zero shrugged. "Besides, if Alpheon trains with me and DMZ, he won't push himself too hard."

"He has a point you know." Alia said.

"Heh, okay, but I won't go easy on you 'cause you're my friends." Alpheon said smirking.

"As if you needed to do that." DMZ said.

Layer sighed. "Boys... What are we gonna do with you?"

"Guess we gotta live with them." Star giggled.

The gang laughed. Everything was okay and they had made a new friend as well. It was funny how everything had turned out in the end.

_I really like how this one turned out. Stay tuned for more!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Here I am! Check chapter for the disclaimer. Let's roll!_

_BTW, sorry about the delay. My exams started. There won't be any new chapters for a while. Oh, and Naoki-Chan, if you like friendships fics you'll love this one. Every chapter the gang will make a new friend._

_**Chapter 4: Enter the StarZ.**_

It all started with X, Alia and Star's first class: Biology. "Good Morning, class." Biology Teacher, Mrs. Flora, said. "Today's class is about Botanic and..."

There was a sudden knock on the door before a teen burst in. He was around sixteen and he was wearing a silver gray jacket, a red long sleeved T-shirt, olive green pants and gray sneakers. His hair was short, spikey with a orange reddish color and his eyes were olive green.

"Sorry... about... the... delay..." The teen said trying to catch his breath. He seemed to have run all the way to school.

"Why if it isn't StarZ." Mrs. Flora smiled. "Welcome back."

"Thanks, Ma'am." StarZ said finally catching his breath.

"Well, sit down. We have plenty to study today." Mrs. Flora told him.

StarZ nodded and sat on the desk next to Star. _"StarZ, huh?"_ Star thought. _"Where did I hear that name before?"_

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

The gang was having lunch.

"Hey, X, I heard StarZ's come back." Zero said.

"Yeah. He just arrived during our first class." X said.

"I'll take he's been gone for a while." Star said.

"Yeah. He left a few days before you were transfered." Alia said.

Star crossed her arms. "Hmm... I'm sure I've heard about him..."

"You sure have." A voice said.

The gang glanced at the voice's owner. It was StarZ. He glanced at DMZ and grinned. "Hey there, buddy. It's been a while."

DMZ got up and walked towards him. Without saying anything, he smacked StarZ upside the head.

"OW!" StarZ cried clutching his head.

The gang glanced at each other, rather surprised. "DMZ!" Layer scolded him.

"That must've hurt." Axl whispered to Alpheon.

"Ouch... What did you do that for!" StarZ asked rubbing his head.

"Took you long enough to come back." DMZ simply replied.

StarZ just glared at him before he started laughing.

"Welcome back." DMZ smirked.

"Thanks. It's nice to see you too." StarZ grinned.

"Okay... I'm lost..." Pallette said.

"I'm not." Star said getting up and walking towards StarZ. "Now I remember. You must be DMZ's childhood friend, am I right?"

StarZ looked at Star and grinned. "Yup. And you must be Star." He grinned. "DMZ told me about you."

"Same here." Star said as they shock hands. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." StarZ grinned before looking a the others. "Hey, DMZ, you've got a lot of new friends while I was gone."

"You can thank Star for that." Alpheon smiled.

"Jeez... Knock it off, Alpheon." Star giggled 'You're making me blush."

The group laughed at that before the school bang rang. "Dang... It's already over?" StarZ pouted.

"We can chat more after school's over." Star said.

"Okay." StarZ said.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Later that day, the group and StarZ were hanging out outside the school building.

"So, you and DMZ lived next to each other and went to the same school?" Alia asked.

"Yup. We used to walk to school together and stuff when we were kids." DMZ replied. "Back then he was kinda a hyper kid sometimes, but he knew when to get serious. Now he's a whiney teenager but he is there to help when he is needed. "

"I'll take that as a compliment." StarZ chuckled. "You haven't changed much."

"So, StarZ, where have you been?" Zero asked.

"In Canada." StarZ replied. "I've got a letter saying that my parents could be alive and living there so I headed out to investigate. Luckily, the government paid the trip."

"Did you have any luck?" X asked.

"Nope." StarZ sighed. "The couple did survive the Hollow War, but their missing child is three years older than me."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Layer said.

"Nah, it's okay." StarZ shrugged. "I really didn't expect to find them anyway."

"Hey, StarZ, you know the whole gang?" Star asked trying to change the subject.

"Now that you mentioned it, not really." StarZ replied. "I just know DMZ, X and Alia."

"Well, if you're sticking with us, you'd better know at least our names." Zero said. "I'm Zero."

"You won last year's Martial Arts Championship, didn't you?" StarZ asked.

"That's right." Zero said. "You look pretty tough. We should spar some day."

"Sounds cool to me." StarZ said.

"Back on topic, these are Layer and Pallette." Star said pointing to the two girls.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Layer said. "I'm Layer."

"And I'm Pallette." Pallette said.

"Nice to meet you girls." StarZ said before glancing at Alpheon. "And you are..."

"Alpheon." The Black Ninja said. "Perhaps you've heard of me as the Black Ninja."

"Yeah, now I remember. I've heard about you." StarZ said. "You're a real ninja?"

"A Ninjitsu student." Alpheon replied. "You don't look surprised."

"Trust me, I don't get surprised so easily." StarZ said looking at Axl. "Who are you?"

"Name's Axl." Axl replied.

StarZ looked at Axl for a few seconds. He looked at X and Zero, then at Axl again before he burst into laughter.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Axl asked crossing his arms, rahter annoyed.

"Heh, I've just realized you're just a prototype!" StarZ said laughing.

The gang glanced at each other. "What's that supposed to mean!" Axl asked angry.

"Don't you get it? Just look at yourself." StarZ mocked. "Your clothes are like Zero's with a darker version of X's. You look like a prototype of them both!"

The group looked at the trio. StarZ did have a point. X and Zero glanced at each other and at Axl. "You know, you got a point there." X said with a chuckle. "Our clothes are a bit alike."

Axl, on the other hand, didn't find StarZ's joke funny at all. "Very funny..." He growled.

"Jeez, what's the matter? Can't take a joke?" StarZ asked.

"I can when the joke is funny." Axl said before smirking. "At least I don't look like a bishie. Unlike you."

StarZ narrowed his eyes. "What did you call me, you twerp!" He asked angry.

"Who ya calling twerp! As far as I'm concerned, you're only one year older than me, you punk!" Ask snapped.

"You... You're so dead!" StarZ yelled lunging at Axl who did the same.

Before the two teens could rip each other's throats apart, X and Zero grabbed them and pulled them away from each other.

"X! Let me go!" Axl yelled as he struggled to break free.

"Sorry, but I can't do that." X said. "You know that you can't fight in school."

"Knock it off! Let me at him!" StarZ yelled at Zero who held him tightly.

Zero shook his head. "Man, you two are such a couple of babies." He sighed.

Alia and the others whatched the scene with a blank look on their faces.

"What was that all about?" Star asked.

"Well, since you're new, you probably don't know, but a bishie is a pretty guy." Alia explained.

"Pretty? Then why did StarZ get so pissed off?" Star asked.

"That's because bishie is pretty in a girly way." Alpheon replied. "That's enough to piss any guy off."

"I hate to interrupt, but a little help here would be appreciated." X said. He was having troubles holiding Axl down.

"Sorry, but this is outta my hands." DMZ shrugged looking at Alpheon. "Hey, Alpheon, who do you think will win this match?"

"Well, if StarZ's your friend, he must be really tough." Alpheon stated. "But Axl trains with Zero so he's pretty good too. That's a tough one."

"You boys are so immature." Layer said rolling her eyes.

"If you guys won't do something, I will." Star said walking towards the group. "X, Zero, let them go. I'll handle this."

Zero looked at Star. She winked at him telling him she had a plan. "Okay. They're all yours." Zero decided.

X and Zero let go of them and backed away.

"Thanks." Star said before glaring at Axl and StarZ. "Okay. You two asked for it."

Without warning, she grabbed them both by one ear and pulled them hard.

"YEOW! What gives!" StarZ yelled.

"That hurts! Cut it out!" Axl screamed.

Finally, Star let go. "I'm sorry, but if you two are gonna keep acting like babies, we'll have to treat you that way." She crossed her arms. "So, quit fooling around, will ya?"

Axl and StarZ rubbed their ears before glancing at each other. They growled at each other before turning away with their arms crossed.

X sighed. "You two are hopeless..."

"They're very alike, you know." Pallette said. "They're both short-tempered and childish."

"No way!" Axl and StarZ yelled in unison before looking at each other. "Hmpf." They looked away.

"I'm going home." Axl said picking his stuff. "Later."

He left.

"I'm outta here too." StarZ said as he started walking in the opposite direction. "See ya."

"That went rather well." DMZ said after StarZ left.

"You really think so?" Zero said with a sarcastic tone.

"What are we gonna do with them?" X sighed.

"There isn't much we can do right now. They'll have to settle their differences somehow." Alia said.

"Hopefully, they won't do that by beating each other senseless." Layer said.

The group glanced at each other. "We'd better keep them away from each other for a while." Pallette said.

"That won't be an easy task." Alpheon said.

Star sighed. "Let's try talking with them." She decided.

The group agreed and split up: X and Zero, along with Alia, Layer and Pallette, would check on Axl while Star, DMZ and Alpheon would talk with StarZ.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Axl walked down the streets. He was pretty mad at StarZ.

"Axl?" X called as he and the others caught up with him. "Axl, wait up."

Axl stopped walking and sighed. "X, I don't need you to tell me how I messed up at school." He said. "I know it."

"That's not the point." X said. "You and StarZ have your differences. That's understantable, but you can't just leave things like that. It'll just make things worse. You have to settle this without fighting."

"We're not siding with anyone." Zero said with a stern look on his face. "You two started this so you'll have to fix it."

"Look, I didn't start a thing. He did." Axl said. "As long as that bishie stays away from me, I won't beat him up." With that, Axl entered his home.

"Man, why does he have to be so stubborn?" Zero asked.

"This will be harder than I thought." Alia sighed.

"Perhaps we should give him some time to calm down." Layer suggested.

"Hope the others got better luck." Pallette said.

_Meanwhile..._

"I know I didn't make a very good first impression, but there's no way I'm gonna apologise to that twerp!" StarZ told Star and the others as they walked home.

"StarZ, I'm not saying you have to apologise. I just think you two have to solve this without using violence." Star said. "You and Axl are my friends. I hate this tension between you two."

"Star, there won't be any tension if the prototype stays away from me and that's final!" StarZ said before walking into his building. "See ya."

Alpheon rolled his eyes. "He's definately your friend, DMZ." He said. "He's a stubborn as you."

"Nah, he can be way more stubborn when he wants to." DMZ shrugged. "Well, now what? Leave them be and see what happens?"

"It's not like we have another choice." Star sighed. "Remind me to keep him and Axl away from each other until they calm down."

"How long do you think that'll take?" Alpheon asked.

"Two weeks." DMZ replied. "At least."

The trio sighed.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Two weeks have passed and things hadn't changed much. There was still tension between Axl and StarZ . They'd ignore each other and, when they met by accident they'd exchange glares before heading into opposite directions.

The gang, particularly Star, was tired of the childish fight between the two.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm fed up with this." Star told the gang after school. Axl and StarZ had left. "If those two are too proud and stubborn to settle this, we'll have to take the matter into our own hands."

"The problem is: how are we gonna do that? We can't just let they beat each other up." Layer said.

"If they had something in common it could help us find a way to solve this." Alia said.

"Well, they're both short-tempered, stubborn, competitive and..." Pallette started.

"Wait. You said competitive?" Star asked.

"Yeah. Axl loves a good competition. Videogames are his favorites." X replied.

"Those are StarZ's favorites too." DMZ said. "He'd always try to beat me when we were kids."

"That gives me an idea." Star smirked. "And it's just crazy enough to work."

Alpheon raised and eyebrown. "What's on your mind?"

"You'll see." Star winked. "Get Axl and StarZ and meet me at the arcade in 20 minutes."

"The arcade?" Zero asked.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing." Star said.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

_At the arcade..._

"A videogame contest?" Axl and StarZ asked.

"Yup. It's time for you to settle this. Fair an square." Star replied. "This way there won't be any complaints when someone loses."

Silence fell over them. Star was right. It was a crazy idea. "So, what's gonna be?" Star asked placing her hands on her hips. "Are you in ? Or are you afraid to find who's the best?"

"I'm afraid of nothing." Axl replied. "Count me in."

"I'm game too." StarZ said.

"_Bingo! It worked." _Star thought with a smirk. "Okay, choose a game to start with and let's get a move on."

While Axl and StarZ chose a game, Star turned to the others. "So far, so good." She said.

"I gotta hand it to you, Star." X said. "You came up with a creative solution for our problem."

"Well, games're the closest thing to a real fight." Star said. "And since those two like playing games, it's quite fitting they solve this by playing." She glanced at Axl and StarZ who stood next to a fliperama. "So, you two made up your mind?"

"Yeah." StarZ smirked glancing at Axl. "You're going down."

Axl smirked back at him. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that."

_Two hours later..._

StarZ and Axl played almost every game in the arcade. The problem: they had ended up in a tie.

"Man, if I had known those two were such game freaks, I would've suggested something else..." Star sighed.

"C'mon, it can't be a tie." Axl said.

"Yeah. I won. I'm sure of it." StarZ said.

Axl glared at him. "No way!"

StarZ glared back at him. "Way!"

"I kept track of your scores." Alia said before they started another argument. "Axl won most times at the racing games while StarZ was better at the fighting games. In the end... We have a tie."

"Aw man... We're back to the starting point." Axl groaned sitting next to Zero. "Now what?"

"We need a tie-breaker." DMZ replied.

"How? The only games left are for babies." StarZ said. "No way I'm playing those."

"How about an endurance test?" Alpheon asked.

"Endurance test?" The others asked.

"The rules are simple: Axl and StarZ run across the city without stopping." Alpheon explained. "The first one to stop loses."

"I get it. The winner is not the fastest, but the one who can run for more time." Zero said.

"That's right." Alpheon said glancing at the two. "It's the ultimate test. Are you up for it?"

Axl and StarZ glanced at each other before clenching their fists. "Let's go."

The group walked out of the arcade. StarZ and Axl got ready.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road." Star said. "Ready... Set... GO!"

The two ran off leaving a small trail of dust behind.

"They're fast..." Layer said. "Shouldn't we follow them to keep them away from trouble?"

"That won't be necessary." Pallette replied. "Check the city map on your PETs."

The group did so. The saw eight spots together on the map while two were getting away from the main group.

"Hey, what are these?" Alpheon asked.

"Remember when I asked if I could borrow your PETs one week ago? I installed a tracking device on them." Pallette explained. "This way it's easier to get a hold of each other."

"Pallette, you're a techno whiz." X smiled. "We should be able to keep an eye on those two now."

"Speaking of which, they're already five blocks away from here." Alia said. "I wonder how long they'll keep running."

"Knowing Axl, I'd say until they both are exhausted or until one of them admits defeat." Zero said.

"The first option sounds more likely to me." Star said. "That could take a while."

The others agreed.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Axl and StarZ kept running. Like the others expected, none of them was willing to admit defeat.

"Better give up while you can, prototype." StarZ teased.

"Yeah, right." Axl said with a sarcastic tone. "Why don't you spare yourself of the humiliation and give up?"

"No way! I'm just getting started!" StarZ said.

"Really? So am I!" Axl said.

They started running faster.

_Three hours later..._

The sun was setting and the first stars could be seen in the sky. Axl and StarZ were tired, yet they refused to stop.

"Say... you're not bad after all." StarZ smirked.

"You've seen nothing yet." Axl smirked back at him.

A loud and sudden explosion starled the two teens. "Whoa! What was that?" Axl asked before they saw several smoke clouds. "Hey, take a look at that."

"Dang... where there's smoke there's fire." StarZ said looking at Axl. "Truce?"

"Truce." Axl replied. "Let's go check it out."

Running towards the explosion, both teens frozed when they saw a small building on fire!

"Man, that's bad!" Axl said before something caught his atention. "What's this smell?"

"Gas leaking." StarZ replied pointing to a telephone pole. "There are some eletric cables cut off. Their sparks must've started fire."

"Axl? StarZ?" X called on Axl's PET. "Why did you two stop? What's going on?"

"We got a problem here!" Axl replied. "There's a building on fire! If we don't do something, the whole neighborhood might burn down!"

"What! Where are you?" X asked worried.

"Third street. On the east side of the city." StarZ replied. "Some cables were cut. We can't call the fire brigade from here."

"HHHEEEEELLLLLPPPP!" A young voice suddenly cried.

Axl and StarZ looked up. A four-year-old girl was as the top window! She looked scared and she was crying. "Pwease! Help!" She yelled waving her arms.

"There's someone in there!" Axl yelled. "We gotta help her!"

"Don't. It's too dangerous!" X yelled. "The others called the fire brigade. Help's on its way!"

"They won't make it time... We can't just stand here!" StarZ said.

"Wait!" X said.

"I'm sorry, X... But we have to do this." Axl said hanging up. He glanced at StarZ. "C'mon!"

They ran up to the door and kicked it open. Withoug wasting time, they made their way to the top floor while avoiding flames and falling debris.

"Help!" They heard the little girl crying.

"It's coming from there!" StarZ pointed to a door.

They tried to open it, but the door wouldn't budge. "Shoot! It's stuck!" Axl growled.

"We'll have to bring it down." StarZ said. "On three. One... Two..."

"THREE!" They both rammed the door. Their combined strengh was enough to unlock the door. Once inside, they started looking for the little girl.

"Kid? Kid, where are you?" Axl asked.

A sob was his only answer. The girl stood next to the window while holding a teddy bear. Axl and StarZ walked up to her.

"Who... Who are you?" The little girl said. "I'm scared... I wanna my mommy and daddy."

"It's okay." StarZ said. "We're here to help. What's your name?"

"Elysia." She replied.

"Elysia, we're gonna get you out of here and go look for your parents, okay?" Axl said.

"Okay!" Elysia said as StarZ picked her up.

They heard a bang. "This place will crash at any moment." StarZ said. "Let's go."

They started running back. Axl on the lead with StarZ close behind.

As they ran towards the exit, part of the ceiling started crumbling. StarZ looked up and gasped: it was going to colapse on his and Axl's heads!

"Look out!" StarZ yelled grabbing Axl by his shirt. He jumped back pulling Axl as well. Just in time. The ceiling colapsed, falling a few inches away from they.

Axl rubbed his head before glancing at StarZ. "You... You saved me..."

StarZ checked on Elysia. She was okay. "Yeah. Yeah... Let's chat later." He said getting up. "Let's get out of here before we end up as a couple of marshmellows."

Axl nodded and got up. They resumed running as fast as they could.

"C'mon! We're almost there!" Axl said as they arrived on the second floor.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave away, making StarZ fall.

"StarZ!" Axl yelled looking inside the hole. StarZ managed to grab the edge with one arm while holding Elysia with the other.

"StarZ, grab on!"Axl yelled holding out his hand. "I'll pull you out."

"Forget it! There isn't time!" StarZ said trying to lift Elysia. "Get her out of here!"

"You crazy! No way I'm leaving you behind!" Axl said.

"Don't be an idiot!" StarZ yelled. His hand was slipping. "C'mon!"

"No!" Axl yelled. "You might be a pain in the butt, but... if something happens to you... I'll never forgive myself!"

"Axl..." StarZ said surprised.

StarZ's hand slipped, but Axl managed to grab his wrist just in time. Using all his strength, he pulled StarZ and Elysia out.

"Phew... Close one." Axl smirked as he got up. "Everyone okay?"

"I guess... Elysia?" StarZ glanced at the little girl who nodded. "Axl... I..."

"Later, buddy." Axl smirked as he helped StarZ up. "Let's get out of here."

StarZ nodded and they resumed running.

_Outside..._

The fire brigade had arrived and the firemen were trying to control the flames when X and the others arrived.

"Back up! Back up!" One of the firemen said. "This area is dangerous."

"Wait! Our friends are in there!" Alia said.

"We've got the situation under control." The fireman said before he realized a young couple was trying to enter the building. "Stop! You can't go in there!"

"My daughter's in there!" The woman said.

"You must let me pass!" The man said.

"Hey!" Another fireman yelled. "There's someone coming out of the building!"

Everyone watched as Axl and StarZ emmerged from the flames carrying Elysia with them.

"Elysia!" Her parents cried running towards the two teens.

"StarZ! Axl!" X yelled as he and the others ran towards them.

Once Axl and StarZ were away from the flames, the latter gave Elysia to her parents before they both sank to their knees trying to catch their breath.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Elysia squealed as her parents hugged her crying.

"You're okay..." Her mother sobbed.

"Thank heavens..." Her father said looking at Axl and StarZ. "Thank you... both of you. I can't thank you enough for saving the most precious thing in my life..."

"You're welcome, mister." Axl said as he and StarZ got up. "We're sorry about your home though."

"Don't worry. We can replace our home, but not the live of a loved one." Elysia's mom said looking at her. "Right, Elysia?"

"Mommy, I wanna thank them too!" Elysia said before her father brought her closer to both boys. "Thank you!" Elysia giggled before hugging StarZ and Axl and kissing them both on their cheeks.

StarZ and Axl smiled a bit when they were hugged by Star and Pallette. "You're okay!" They said in unison.

Axl and StarZ blushed at being hugged, but no one seemed to noticed since their faces were a bit red due the heat.

"I'm glad yo see you too, Pallette, but I'd like to breathe a bit now." Axl joked.

"S..Star... could... you let... go?" StarZ stuttered.

The girls let go of them and helped them up. The others glanced at them. Axl and StarZ had ashes all over their clothes and faces and some scratches. "You two okay?" Layer asked.

"Yeah. Just out of breath." Axl replied earning a few glares from X and Zero. "Uh-oh..."

"I guess we're in trouble." StarZ said rubbing the back of his head while laughing nervously.

"Not really. You two are heroes!" Star said.

"Stupid and reckless heroes, but heroes nonetheless." Zero added.

"True, your actions were reckless but brave as well. You saved a life." X said.

"All's well when it ends well, I guess." Alpheon said.

"You got that right." StarZ smirked looking at Axl. "You know, you're not bad... for a prototype."

"Really?" Axl smirked back at him. "You're not bad either... For a bishie, that is."

They started glaring at each other. The gang sighed. "Here we go again." DMZ rolled his eyes.

When the gang thought another fight was going to start, Axl and StarZ burst into laughter. That caught the gang off-guard. "They're... laughing together?" Pallette asked.

"ALL RIGHT!" Axl and StarZ said in unison before high-fiving.

"Meh, how do you like that?" DMZ grinned.

"They used to hate each other..." Layer started.

"And now they get along just fine." Zero concluded. "For now at least."

"They're different and alike at the same time." Alia said.

"Helping people in need is their common ground." Star said. "They argue and fight a lot, but they respect and admire each other even if they don't admit it."

"It's kinda love-and-hate relationship, I guess." X said.

"As long as they don't beat each other up it's fine with me." Alpheon shrugged.

The others nodded looking at the duo. They were saying good bye to Elysia and her parents.

"C'mon, guys." Zero called. "Time to go home."

Axl and StarZ nodded and the gang headed home.

StarZ and Axl had created a solid friendship, despite their differences. It was safe to assume they'd fight over something in the future, but that would only make their friendship stronger.

_There you have it. I love how this one came out._


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry about the delay. After my exams were done I needed a rest, but as requested, here's chapter 5! Let's move on!__**  
**_

_**Chapter 5: New Friends.**_

X and the gang walked out of the school building. It was Friday.

"HUZZAH!" StarZ yelled. "Finally! A Homework free weekend!"

"Yeah. That means a whole weekend to do whatever we want!" Axl added.

"So, what are we going to do?" Pallette asked.

Everybody stopped walking and looked at her.

"Honestly, I don't have a clue." Star said. "Any ideas, guys?"

"We haven't done many different things lately." Alia said. "Besides studying, sparring and the boys playing games, I don't remember doing anything else."

"Well, there's gotta be something we haven't done yet." Zero said as the group walked down the street.

"Well, good luck finding it ." DMZ crossed his arms. "I can't think of anything new."

"How about the movies?" Layer asked.

"Last time I checked, no new movie had been released and I think we already saw the ones on display." X stated.

Alpheon, who was silent for most of the time, suddenly remembered something. "Hey guys, I think I know a..." He was cut off by some chains rattling sound. "Huh?" The black ninja turned around and clenched his fists. "Not good..."

"What's wrong Alpheon?" Star asked turning around. "Oh no..."

The others turned around. Before them was a large number or punks. All of them were armed with bars, chains and anything they could use as weapons.

"What do you want with us?" Zero asked taking the lead of the group.

"We just want the girl and the white haired boy." One of the punks said pointing to Star and Alpheon. "Thanks to them, we and our boss are laughing reason and we want to repay the favor."

"Huh? What are they talking about?" StarZ asked.

"Star befriended Alpheon when he saved her for some street punks." Axl explained. "I guess they're from the same gang."

"Got that right, twerp." The punk said. "Now hand them over and we'll have no problems."

"Like hell we're gonna do that." DMZ growled.

"That's right. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" Zero said.

"Fine! Get them!" The leader yelled. The punks lunged at the group.

"Here goes!" X said as he and the boys got ready to battle.

In a matter of seconds, a huge brawl started. Even though they were in a smaller number, X and his friends held their ground.

A large punk tried to punch Zero, but the young teen grabbed the punk's fist. "It's gonna take a lot more than a bunch of punks to take us down!" He yelled before twisting his opponent's arm behind his back into a rather painful armlock.

Somehow, the punk got free. However, instead of attacking Zero, he lunged at X who swiftly dodged his punches. "I'm not into violence." He said before knocking him down with a low kick. "But I'm no push-over either."

Axl and StarZ had their backs to each other. They were surrounded. "Ready?" StarZ asked with a smirk.

"You bet." Axl smirked back at him.

When the punks lunged at them, they jumped up and kicked each other's feet then shot out and kicked down a punk each one, then they shot back to themselves then kicked their feet and repeated! In no time, the punks were down.

"All right!" They yelled high fiving.

DMZ glanced at them and rolled his eyes. "Show offs."

"Hey, DMZ!" Alpheon yelled. "Heads up!"

DMZ did a backflip and dodged a blow from an iron bar. "Okay, I'm tired of these jerks." He glanced at Alpheon. "You know what to do."

The black ninja nodded. They rushed towards a punk and double punched him. The blow was so strong that sent the scum flying into another five punks, knocking them all down.

In the meantime, the girls were defending themselves.

"Meh, a bunch of defenseless girls and the boys are too busy to help." A punk sneered. "This is gonna be easy."

"Don't count on that!" Alia said before slapping the punk on the face.

"Why you little...!" He was cut off by Star grabing his arm and throwing him over her shoulder.

"Finish that sentence and you're gonna be sorry." Star said.

Another street scum tried to sneak up on Layer and Pallette, but both girls were ready.

"Take this!" Pallette yelled kicking the punk on his leg.

While the bully was busy clucthing his leg, Layer knocked him down with a roundhouse kick. "This will teach you not to take us for granted." She said.

Even though X and his friends had the upper hand, more punks kept coming. "Okay... I think we need a new strategy..." X said. "They just keep coming."

"Hey!" A voice suddenly yelled. "Need a hand, dudes?"

Everybody looked up. Four teens stood on a nearby rooftop. Three boys and a girl .

"Those guys..." Alpheon said.

The four landed and the group took a better glance at them. One was a boy around seventeen with gray eyes and short black hair. He was wearing a green cap, a camouflage green jacket, green pants and black sneakers.

The second teen was a sixteen-year-old boy with spikey purple hair and light gray eyes. He wore a dark blue and purple t-shirt, a dark blue jacket tied around his waist, jeans and blue sneakers.

The third teen, the girl, was seventeen years old with midlong black hair and ruby eyes. She was wearing a red ribbon on her hair, a yellow blouse, blue jeans and black sneakers.

The last teen was the oldest: 18 years old with light brown eyes and short black hair. He was wearing a purple sleeveless t-shirt, black jeans and black sneakers sneakers, a red ribbon around his forehead and a red belt tied around his waist.

"Who are they?" Axl asked.

"Dunno, but I can't shake the feeling that I've seen them before." Zero replied.

"Okay, I just can't stand meddlers." The head punk said before trying to punch one of the teens.

"I don't think so." The elder teen said giving the punk a somersault kick knocking him down.

Everybody was surprised by that. "His moves... they are a lot like Alpheon's!" StarZ said.

The leader recovered and he was mad. "Okay, brats, you asked for it!"

All the punks picked their weapons and got ready. "Dude... I guess you pissed him off." The teen with the green hat said.

"May I suggest a strategic retreat, my friends?" The purple haired teen asked. He had a deep british accent.

"I second that." The girl replied before running over Star and the girls. "Please come with us."

The girls looked at each other and at the boys. The angry mob of punks was quickly approaching them.

"Let's go!" Alpheon suddenly said. The four teens nodded and ran off. The black ninja followed them.

"Should we trust them?" Alia asked.

"Alpheon does." Star replied. "And I trust him."

The others nodded and the gang ran after the black ninja with the punks close behind them.

"They're catching up!" Axl yelled.

"Keep running!" The elder teen said. "We're almost there!"

The group rounded a corner only to reach an alley.

"It's dead end!" Pallette said. "What do we do now?"

"I'm sure it was around here." The purple haired teen said looking into a brick wall.

"Hurry! They're coming!" The girl said.

"Found it!" The green cap teen said as he removed a brick of the wall revealing a hidden button. He looked at X and his friends. "Fast your seatbelts, dudes. We're going down!"

Before anyone could ask what was going on, the teen punched the button, opening a huge trapdoor beneath them making the whole group fall in it.

When the street gang reached the alley the trapdoor had closed and X and the others were gone.

"Damn! They've escaped!" The leader said. "How did that happen!"

No one knew how to answer that.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

X groaned as he woke up. "My head..." He said rubbing it. "Where am I?"

He was lying on a makeshift bed. Slowly, he got into a sitting position and looked around. It looked like a juice or bar or something. Glancing to his right, he found Zero, Axl, DMZ and StarZ lying next to him. "Guys?" He called them trying to wake them up.

Soon, the boys woke up. "Hey, what happened?" Zero asked as he got up.

"Last thing I remember was falling into a trapdoor." StarZ replied. "So, where are we?"

"I don't know, but haven't you guys noticed that someone's missing?" DMZ asked.

"The girls and Alpheon!" Axl suddenly said. "Where are they?"

Some laughter were their only reply. "That's your first clue." Zero said. "Let's go check it out."

The five boys followed the sound and found a rather unexpected scene: Alpheon and the girls sat on a table next to three of the four mysterious teens. They were all chatting and laughing.

"X!" Alia suddenly yelled before she ran towards him. "Are you okay? I was worried about you!"

"I'm fine, Alia." X said as he slightly blushed. Alia had always deeply cared for him. "What about you guys?"

"We're okay, X." Star replied. "You boys scared us though. After we fell on that trapdoor, the five of you landed on top of each other and I think you hit your heads too. You've been out cold for a while."

"No wonder my back's sore." Zero said. "How did we end up here?"

"That trapdoor we fell into is connected to a secret underground passageway that was built during the Hollow War which is connected to this place." Layer explained. "This building used to be a training facility, but now this place is The Green Light House, a place where teens can hang out."

"Cool!" Axl said looking around. "This place got everything! A gym, an arcade, a cyber cafe and even a sparring area! How come we never heard of this place before?"

"That's because its grand opening is tomorrow ." The girl replied. "By the way, we didn't introduce ourselves. My name's Rigel. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Kazegama." The elder black-haired teen said.

"And I'm Faust." The purple haired teen said. "Pleased to meet all of you."

"Nice accent." StarZ smirked. "Hey, wasn't there another someone with you guys?"

"Yeah, he had to attend to something." Faust replied. "He should be back soon."

While Faust was talking, the boy with green cap snuck up behind him. "HEY FAUST!" He yelled jumping in front of Faust.

Badly starled, Faust let you a high pitched scream before falling on his back. "GAAAH! What... Vega, you simpleton!" Faust said angry while looking at the teen. "What on earth do you think you're doing!"

"Well, y'know I just decided to greet ya, man." Vega replied while snickering. "Dude, you should've seen the look on your face and ..." A smirk "Did I hear a little girl scream?"

Faust got up. He was so angry that the gang could even see an angry vein poping out of his forehead. "VEGA!" He yelled before chasing a laughing Vega around the place.

The group sweatdropped as they saw the teens running around the place. "I see they get along well." Zero said with a sarcastic tone.

Alpheon chuckled as he shock his head. "That's Vega, the gang's prankster and rock fanatic." He said smirking. "He always does that."

"Always?" DMZ asked raising an eyebrown. "Wait a minute, do you know these guys?"

"Sure." Alpheon replied. "We share a dorm. Also, Vega, Rigel and Kazegama trained with me at ninja school. And Faust and Vega went to the same music school."

Vega and Faust stopped running around. "Got that right, dude." Vega said. "Remember when we first met?"

"How could I forget? It was my first day at the ninja school." Alpheon smiled.

**Flashback.**

As Alpheon entered the dojo, an old man greeted him with a smile. "Welcome back, Daisuke."

Alpheon was confused. "I think you're referring to the wrong person, sir, but I am Alpheon." He said. "Though, you do look very familiar."

The old man laughed. "Of course I am familiar to you. I've taught you the art of ninjitsu. I am your Master Rigyoku." He said patting Alpheon's back.

The old master toured Alpheon around the dojo and introduced him to new students. "Daisuke, I would like to welcome Miss Rigel and Mister Vega."

Alpheon looked at them while his master left the room to take care of something else. Rigel was dressed an ordinary casual attire while Vega was busy tinkering with his MP3 player.

"So, uh, Vega..." Alpheon said to him, tapping his shoulder. "Do you know this girl?"

Vega looked at him. "Nope. Never seen her, dude."

Alpheon blinked. _"He's probably fond of Heavy Metal."_ He thought.

"Hey, white haired dude" He called Alpheon. "What's your name?"

"It's Alpheon. Pleased to meet you Vega." Alpheon said with a smile.

"Tchyaaah!" Vega expressed "Dude, what's with the pale skin and bandages? You look almost dead."

"Yeah." Rigel said as she approached him. "It looks like you've seen a ghost."

"It's a long story, guys. I hope we three become good friends." Alpheon said putting his hands on each of their shoulders.

Below the staircase, they saw another teen in purple clothes running towards the dojo. "Am I late for class?" He asked as he tried to catch his breath after he caught up with them.

"Uhh... I don't even know if it's started yet." Alpheon replied.

The teen glared at him "Was I talking to you?" He snapped.

Alpheon and Vega just stood there, but Rigel stepped forward and looked at the newcomer with a friendly expression "Hello there."

The teen just stared at her and blushed.

Rigel giggled "What's your name?"

The teen was hesitant to answer but he did it anyway. "Th.. Th.. The... N.. Name's.. Kaz.. Kazegama" He stuttered with a red face.

Rigel smiled. "Welcome, Kazegama." She said placing a hand on his shoulder.

Kazegama suddenly fainted.

Vega and Alpheon, who were standing in the background, burst into laughter at what happened.

After Kazegama regained conciouness, the class started.

_Later that day..._

"All of you have done well today, my students." Master Rigyoku said. "Class dismissed."

"Yes, sensei!" The four ninjas in training said bowing before their master. Then, they left.

The four new friends chatted as they walked down the street. "Alpheon, where did you learn moves like that?" Rigel asked. "Have you taken ninjitsu lessons before?"

"Actually, I'm not sure... I can't remember my past." Alpheon replied.

"You can't? What happened?" Kazegama asked.

"You see, two weeks ago, I was found by an old man inside an alley. He said that I was out cold with several bruises on my body and a huge wound on my head..." Alpheon explained. "This man, who took me in and nursed me back to health, named me Alpheon... Before he traveled to another country to attend to some business, he instructed me to go to the dojo. He said that Master Rigyoku was a friend of his and that he'd help me get my memory back with the ninja training... Sensei looks familiar to me and he even called me Daisuke."

"Maybe he does know you, dude." Vega suggested. "Why don't you talk with him?"

"I tried." Alpheon sighed. "He said that only when the right time comes."

Silence fell over them. "Well, no use worrying about that now." Kazegama said. "Your memory will come back with time, you know."

"You know, you're probably right, Kazegama." Alpheon said.

"So, what do we do now?" Vega asked.

"I have to go home and unpack my things." Rigel replied. "Since Master Rigyoku accepted me as his student, I had to move into a dorm closer to the dojo. I also need to meet my roommates."

"Roommates?" Alpheon asked. "Say, where's your dorm, anyway?"

"I don't remember the address, but I have it written here." Rigel replied as she took a piece of paper of her pocket and gave it to Alpheon. "Here."

Alpheon read the paper and let out a huge grin. "Well, what do you know? We're roommates!"

"We are?" Rigel asked.

"Yeah, this is the same dorm I'm staying." Alpheon grinned.

Vega and Kazegama also read it. "That's the same dorm I'm staying too!" They said in unison.

Alpheon laughed. "That's great! Wait. I was told that I was getting four roommates. If you guys are my roommates, who's the fourth one?"

"I believe I have the answer for that question." Another teen said as he approached them. "My name's Faust. I believe I'm your roommate as well."

"Yeah, the dude's right!" Vega said with a grin. "I remember you saying that we'd be roommates before we left music school."

"Music school?" Kazegama asked.

"Yeah. I play a flute while Vega plays the guitar." Faust said. "We attend to the same school."

"That's so cool!" Rigel said.

"Indeed." Alpheon said grinning. "Something tells me we're going to be great friends."

**End Flashback.**

"And that's how we met." Alpheon said.

"Jeez..." Axl said looking at Kazegama with a smirk. "I can't believe you passed out on your first day at the ninja school."

"You don't have to rub it in." Kazegama said with scowl.

"Don't feel bad about it, Kazegama." Rigel said. "You really worried me that day."

"R-R-Really?" Kazegama sttutered as he face became more red than a tomato.

The girls giggled. "Looks like someone's got a crush on Rigel." Pallette said with a mischevious grin.

"Yeah." Star said trying to not laugh. "There's one thing I don't understand though: if you guys knew Alpheon for a while, how come he used to be a loner when I met him?"

Alpheon and the others frowned at the question. They knew someone would ask it sooner or later. "Well, it all happened when Sensei passed away." Rigel explained. "Among us, Alpheon was the closest to Master Rigyoku. He took his death the hardest..."

"He started drifting apart from us." Faust explained. "At our home, he's the first one to wake up and the last one to go to bed. We only got to see him at school and even then he'd rather be alone."

"We tried to help him, but he said that he wanted to be alone." Kazegama said. "That was a while ago. Way before you were transfered to our school. We decided to give him some time and meeting you guys seems to have helped him some way."

Alpheon sighed. "That'true... I was so sad about sensei's death and confused about my past, I ended up pushing my friends away..." He said. "After meeting Star and the others, I remembered the meaning of friendship and that there was people who accepted me for who I was..." He looked at the three ninjas and Faust. "It's been some time that... I've been wanting to tell you guys this... I'm sorry... for the way I acted."

Vega grinned and patted Alpheon's back. "No prob, dude." He said. "All's well now."

"Alpheon's friends are our friends too." X said. "Also, you guys helped us out when those punks attacked. We'd be more than happy to have you guys around."

"Well, the more the merrier. That's what I always say." StarZ smirked. The others nodded.

"Thanks X, guys." Faust said with a smile. "It'd be a pleasure to accompany you."

"Well, looks like our group is getting bigger." Zero said. "Good thing you showed this place to us, guys. It's the perfect hangout!"

"By the way, how did you find this place?" DMZ said.

"One day, we were walking home from the dojo when we found this passageway by accident." Kazegama explained. "The man who runs this place lives next to our dorm."

"Yup, he's one cool man." Vega added. "He's fought during the Hollow War!"

"Whoa... A survivor from the war? That's awesome!" Axl said. "I hope I can meet him someday."

"How about now?" A voice asked. The group turned around. A man around his 25 years approached them. He had black eyes, short dark hair and he looked pretty strong. He was wearing casual clothes.

"Guys, that's Mr. Signas." Alpheon said. "He's the one in charge of the Green Light House. He helped us carrying you guys in and checked on you while you were out cold."

"Pleased to meet you kids." Signas said as he looked at X and smiled. "I see the boys have awakened. How are you feeling?"

"We're okay, mister." X replied. "Thanks for helping us. And sorry for the trouble."

"Don't worry about it." Signas said. "You kids must be good people to Vega and his friends show you the secret passageway." A sigh. "If more teens were like you, then maybe the war wouldn't have started to begin with."

"I don't mean any disrespect, sir, but why did you change a training facility into a teens hangout?" Zero asked.

"Teens like you and your friends were the most affected by the war, Zero. When I joined the war, I was around your age... And I saw things that I never wanted to see..." Signas replied. "That's why I wanted to create a place where teens can hang out and have a good time. So that they can enjoy the things I couldn't when I had their age."

Silence fell over the group of teens, who were amazed by Signas' words. Having no parents, none of them really had a parental figure to look up to.

"Now, now, don't give me that serious look." Signas said with a chuckle before looking at Vega and Faust. "Shouldn't the two of you be practing for tomorrow's grand opening?"

"Yeah!" Vega and Faust said in unison.

"Practing?" Star asked. "For what?"

"Mr. Signas hired us to play at the Green Light House after school." Faust said pulling out a flute of his jacket.

"Yeah. Some good music never hurts anyone." Vega said as he picked his guitar. "Ready to rock, Faust?"

Faust nodded. He started playing a soothing melody.

"This music is so peaceful..." Layer said smiling.

"You've seen nothing!" Vega said. He started playing his guitar. The melody coming from it was intense, matching perfectly Faust's melody.

"Never thought flute music and guitar playing would go so well together." Alia said.

"Just for you, dudes and dudettes, our new song!" Vega said. "It's called: Freedom Spirit!"

The group got silent as Vega began singing.

_**Don't tell me what to do!**_

_**Don't tell me what to say!**_

_**Don't tell me who I am!**_

_**You can't control me!**_

_**I am free! I am free!**_

_**I am me! Just me!**_

_**This world has gone crazy,**_

_**But my heart is the same.**_

_**Even if my body shatters,**_

_**My soul will remain forever!**_

_**Don't tell me what to do!**_

_**Don't tell me what to say!**_

_**Don't tell me who I am!**_

_**You can't control me!**_

_**I am free! I am free!**_

_**I am me! Just me!**_

_**I've heard too many tales**_

_**Of sadness and pain.**_

_**I won't hear it anymore!**_

_**This is where I make my stand!**_

_**Don't tell me what to do!**_

_**Don't tell me what to say!**_

_**Don't tell me who I am!**_

_**You can't control me!**_

_**I am free! I am free!**_

_**I am me! Just me!**_

_**The future is now!**_

_**We make our path!**_

_**Let's move towards tomorrow**_

_**Where all our dreams await!**_

_**This is what we wanted for so long.**_

_**Our time has come.**_

_**The freedom Spirit belongs to us!**_

_**So, what are we waiting for? HERE WE GO!**_

_**Don't tell me what to do!**_

_**Don't tell me what to say!**_

_**Don't tell me who I am!**_

_**You can't control me!**_

_**I am free! I am free!**_

_**I am me! Just me!**_

_**Don't tell me what to do!**_

_**Don't tell me what to say!**_

_**Don't tell me who I am!**_

_**You can't control me!**_

_**I am free! I am free!**_

_**I am me! Just me!**_

_**I am free! I am free!**_

_**I am me! Just me!**_

_**The Freedom Spirit lies with me! FOREVER!**_

Once Vega and Faust finished the song, everybody started clapping.

"That was great, boys!" Rigel said. "Way to go!"

"I gotta hand it to you two." Kazegama said. "You got really good at this."

"Thank you, my friends." Faust said bowing his head while Vega flashed a grin.

"I guess it's safe to say that they rock and they rule!" Alpheon joked.

Everybody laughed at that. The gang had made new friends and learned a few things in the process. And all of that in the most unexpected way. You never know what may happen during a homework free weekend.

_Hope you guys enjoyed this one. It shouldn't take too long for the next chapter. So stay tuned._


	6. Chapter 6

_I live! XD Sorry about the delay, everyone. School's been crazy lately and I only had the time to type this down recently. Anyway, I'm happy to bring you guys this chapter. Things are start slowing, but I promise that it'll get cool pretty soon. On with the show!__**  
**_

_**Chapter 6: The lost kid.**_

It all started on an stormy looking evening at the Green Light House. Eversince that day, the place had become the gang's hangout. Each one of them was doing their stuff.

Zero, Alpheon, DMZ and StarZ were finishing a sparring section.

"Looks like it's gonna rain." Alpheon said looking at the window. "What do you guys think?"

A loud thunder cracked. "That answers your question?" DMZ asked.

Soon, it started raining and the rain soon became a downpour. "Jeez... Hasn't rained like that in weeks!" StarZ said.

"Summer rain." Rigel, who was sitting with X, Alia and Layer on a nearby table while reading a book said. "You can never predict them."

"Summer's still some months away." Axl said while he was teaching Pallette how to play an arcade.

"Well, since when the weather here is normal?" Kazegama asked before looking at Vega and Faust who were putting their instruments away. "Looks like the rain won't stop anytime soon, boys. Guess we'll need to stay here for a while."

Star glanced at the window. "Judging from the rain intensity, I think it should last up to twenty minutes and..." She trailed off as she saw a small blue blur running past the window or so she thought.

"Something wrong, Star?" Pallette asked.

"Nah, it's nothing." Star said with a shrug. "It's raining so hard that you can't see much outside."

The group kept chating for a while until Vega spotted something. "Hey, dudes and dudettes!" He called. "The rain stopped!"

Zero glanced at the window. "It looks more like it gave a break to me."

"Yeah. It could resume raining anytime now." Layer added.

"Maybe you kids should go home." Signas suggested as he approached them. "Also, all of you do have school tomorrow."

"Indeed." Faust said.

Everybody packed up their stuff. "Thanks a lot for letting us stay while we waited for the rain to stop, Mr. Signas." Alia said.

"You all are always welcome at the Gree Light House, Alia." Signas smiled. "Now get going. You never know when it may rain again."

"Right. Good bye!" X said waving good bye.

As the gang was outside, each one bid farewell to each other and the group split up. Normally, they'd walk home together, but since the weather wasn't on their side, they decided it'd be better if they went on different ways.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Star ran down the street. It was dark and thunder and lighting cracked on the sky. "Jeez... This is gonna be a big storm." She said. "Good thing I'm almost home."

She was almost at her palce when she heard something coming from an alley. It sounded like someone crying.

"Something's up." Star said as she walked into the alley. "Hello? Anyone there?"

Scanning around the alley, Star found who was crying: a little boy around eight years old, wearing a white sleeveles t-shirt, a sky blue jacket, blue baggy pants and sneakers. He had spunky blue hair tied on a long ponytail with a white V shapped streak and sparkly blue eyes. He also had some bandages around his forehead and he was all soaked probably due the previous rain. _"That's the kid a saw running past the Green Light House when the downpour started." _Star thought as she walked towards him.

"What's the matter, little guy?" Star said with a soft tone as she kneeled in front of him.

The kid was starled by someone actually talking with him. He staggered back a bit. "Whoa, take it easy, kid." Star said. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

The little boy looked at her when a loud thunder cracked. Scared, he hugged Star tightly. "I guess I'll have some company tonight." She quietly mused as she gently picked him up.

Star headed back to her dorm. Once she got there, she took the little boy to the bathroom. "Take these wet clothes off and take a warm bath." She told him gently. "Don't worry. I won't look."

Star turned around so the kid could take his clothes off and get into the shower. Once he was in, Star picked up his clothes. "Let's get these cleaned." She said. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Once you're done, turn the water off and put a towel, okay?"

The kid nodded. "Good. I'll be right back." Star said leaving the bathroom. She put the clothes on the washing machine and waited a few minutes. After they were washed, Star hanged them to dry.

"Let's check on him." Star said heading back to the bathroom. Like she expected, the tyke was wearing a towel when she got there. "I put your clothes to dry. You'll have to wear a robe until they are dry."

The boy nodded. Star picked him up and took him to her room. She then put him down and gave him a white robe that was on her closet. "Here you go." She said. "It's a bit large, but it'll have to do for now."

Star turned around so he could wear the robe. "T-T-Thank you..." He whispered after getting dressed up.

"You're welcome." Star said glancing at him with a warm smile. "My name's Star. What's yours?"

"I... I don't know..." The kid said looking away. "I can't remember..."

"You can't?" Star asked.

The kid shock his head. "Whenever I try, my head hurts... And it's been like that for a while..."

"How long have you been on the streets?" Star asked.

"One month or so... I don't know." The kid replied.

Star crossed her arms when she heard a rumbling sound coming from the kid's stomach. "Sorry..." He said blushing. "I'm hungry..."

"That's okay." Star said with a chuckle. "Let' go to the kitchen. I'll fix ya something to eat."

At the kitchen, Star made a sandwich and some hot chocolate. "There ya go." She said. "Eat as much as you like."

"Thank you!" The kid squealed before he started eating.

Star couldn't help but smile. _"He's so innocent and cute."_ She thought as she drunk some chocolate. _"Why is a kid like him on the streets?"_

"Star?" The boy called shyly. "I'm done."

"Okay. I think we should get some sleep now." Star said. "Tomorrow, I'll figure out what we're going to do."

A loud thunder cracked. Starled, the little boy clinged to Star's arm. "Maybe you should sleep with me tonight." Star giggled while picking him up.

Star took the little boy to her room and placed him on her bed. Then she went to the bathroom to put her pajamas. When she got back, the tyke was already fast asleep. Star smiled and covered him with some blankets.

"Good night, kid." Star whispered as she lied on her bed.

To her surprise, the little kid started hugging her right arm as if it was a teddy bear. "Good night... Star..." He muttered on his sleep with a smile on his lips.

Star smiled before falling asleep as well.

_The next day..._

Star was making breakfast while the little boy was still asleep. "I need to talk with X and the gang..." She said out loud. "Maybe we can find something together."

"Star?" The kid called from the kitchen's door.

"Hey, morning, kid." Star smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Thanks." The boy said smiling back at her.

"Good. Your clothes are dry. They are near my bed." Star said. "Go get dressed up while I finish your breakfast."

The kid nodded and left. After a few minutes he got back all dressed up. "All done." He said before sitting down and eating a toast.

"Good. Now..." Star glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh no! I'm late for school! Kid, you stay here and have your breakfast."

"Am I gonna be alone?" The kid asked with big puppy eyes as Star picked up her school supplies.

"It's just for a while." Star said. "Be a good boy and wait for me, okay?"

"Okay..." The kid said finishing breakfast.

"Good. I promise to bring you a surprise once I'm back." Star said as she opened the door. "Bye!"

"Bye!" The kid said as Star closed the door and locked it.

After a few minutes, he glanced around feeling lonely. "Star..."

Suddenly, he spotted an open windown and a tree next to it. He smiled.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Star ran as fast as she could to make it to school in time. She met the gang at the entrance.

"Hey, Star, about time." Axl said. "What happened?"

"Long... story..." Star said catching her breath. "I need you guys' help."

"What's the matter?" Alpheon asked.

Before Star could reply, the schoolbell rang. "I'll tell you guys later." She said.

One by one, the gang entered the building. None of them noticed a little kid watching them from the top a tree.

_After class was over..._

"Are you serious, Star?" X asked as the group of friends walked out of the school building.

"No kidding, X." Star replied. "That kid's lost and he doesn't even know who he is. I think he had an accident or something."

"Why do you think so?" Alia asked.

"He had a few bandages around his forehead when I found him." Star explained. "Also, he's been on the streets for roughly a month."

"Wow... He must be one tough kid then." Vega said.

The group stopped under a huge tree. "The point is: we have to do something to help him." Star said.

"STAR!" A little voice squealed.

The next thing the gang knew, a little blue blur had tackled Star into the ground. "WHOAH!" Star yelled as she fell on her back.

"Hey, what gives?" DMZ asked.

The group got a better glance at the blur: it was the little kid. "I found you! I found you!" He squealed as he hugged Star tightly.

"Okay! Okay! You found me!" Star said laughing. "Now cut that out! That tickles!"

"That's the kid you were talking about? He's so cute!" Pallette said.

When the kid noticed all the gang looking at him, he clinged to Star's arm.

"That's okay, kid." Star said smiling. "They're our friends."

"Our friends? That's the surprise you were talking about?" The tyke asked.

"Surprise? Oh, right." Star giggled. "I did plan to introduce you to them."

"Nice to meet you guys then." The kid said bowing.

"Adorable little boy, isn't he?" Layer said giggling while she picked him up.

In no time, the girls were all busy cuddling and hugging the kid.

"So, that's your new friend." DMZ said as he and X helped Star up. "How did he get here?"

"That's a good question." Star said looking at the kid. "I told you to stay at home. How did you get here?"

"I jumped out the window." The kid replied.

"The window!" The gang said in unison.

"Uh... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Star's dorm on the second floor?" Faust asked.

"I climbed down a tree." The kid said with a naive smile.

"A tree? Well, that explains everything." StarZ said with a smirk. "What a smart kid."

Star sighed. "What am I gonna do with you?"

"I'm sorry..." The kid said. "I was lonely and..."

"That's okay." Star smiled at him. "Next time, please, do as I say."

"Okie Dokie." The kid squealed.

The gang couldn't help but laughing at that.

"He's so cute." Rigel said as she gave the kid a hug.

Kazegama crossed his arms. "Hmpf... Lucky guy." He whispered.

"What do you mean?" The kid asked as Rigel let go of him. "You jealous?"

Kazegama's face became more red than a tomate as everybody stared at him. "I... I... I..." He stuttered.

Star tried to not laugh. "Back on topic, we need to find a way to help him."

"Got it." Zero said looking at the kid. "So, you can't remember anything, huh?"

"Nope. My head hurts when I try to remember." The kid replied.

"Guess we'll have to play detective then." Alpheon said crossing his arms.

"I have an idea." X said. "Alia, Pallette and Layer can take the kid to the Green Light House. We can use the computers there to search for some info. In the meantime, the rest of us can search places like orphanages and hospitals for clues."

"Great idea, X." Star said looking at the kid. "Be a good boy and go with them, okay? I promise that I'll come back soon."

"Okay. I'll behave this time. I promise." The kid said as he held Alia's hand.

"The girls will keep him under control." Axl said.

"Let's get to work then. We'll meet at the hangout in two hours." Zero said. "Got it?"

"Got it!" The gang said before spliting up.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

StarZ, DMZ and Alpheon walked out of the police station along with Zero and Axl. "Dang... This is gonna be harder than I thought." StarZ frowned. "That's the third place we got a no for an answer!"

"I'm starting to think that there's more about that little twerp than meets the eye." DMZ said crossing his arms.

"What do you mean?" Alpheon asked.

"Think about it: a lost little boy with no memory and that no one never heard about... It's pretty strange if you ask me." DMZ started. "Also, his clothes are of pretty much good quality so he's not any poor homeless kid."

"Just where are you trying to get at?" Axl asked.

"What I'm trying to say is that kid could be involved into some kind of trouble" DMZ replied. "And Star could be getting herself in trouble as well since she's trying to help him."

"Don't be so paranoid, DMZ." Zero joked. "We're talking about an eight-year-old squirt, not a street scum."

"He does have a point, though." Alpheon said. "It is strange that the kid doesn't have any kind of ID."

"Yeah. Parents usually give their kids nametags or something." StarZ added.

"You mean, something like this?" A voice asked.

The five teens turned around. A teen around the same age of Alpheon stood next to an alley with his back agaisnt the wall and his arms crossed. He was holding something.

"And what do you know?" Zero asked.

The teen didn't reply. Instead he tossed something at Alpheon and walked into the alley. "Hey! Wait up!" Axl said. He walked in the alley but, the place was empty. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"Nevermind him." DMZ said glancing at Alpheon. "What he threw at you?"

Alpheon glanced at the small metallic object. "It's a nametag..." He said before gasping. "It belongs to the kid!"

"Huh? How do you know?" StarZ asked.

"It's got his photo." Alpheon said showing it to the others. "I can't read his name though. This thing seems to be burned or something."

"Great. The only clue we find and it turns out to be a dud." DMZ sighed. "I wonder how that guy got it though."

"It's all we have for now, so we have to keep looking." Zero said. "Let's get going."

The group walked away. However, no one noticed the strange teen watching them from the top of a building. "Daisuke..." He whispered. "Don't you remember me at all?"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

_At the Green Light House..._

"A lost kid?" Mr. Signas asked as the girls showed him the little boy. "Where did you find him?"

"Actually, Star was the one who found him last night." Alia replied. "Right now, X and the others are searching for some info that could lead us to his parents."

"Do you know anything about him, Mr Signas?" Pallette asked.

"Hhmmm... I'm sure I've seen him somewhere..." Mr. Signas replied with a thoughtful look as he glanced at the kid who was busy looking around the place. "I'm sorry, girls, but I can't remember where it was."

"That's okay." Layer said. "The others are trying to gather info so we should do the same too."

"Feel free to use the computers then." Mr. Signas said. "You should be able to find something."

The girls nodded and started working. The little kid sat next to them and picked some sheets of papers and a few pencils from a nearby table. He seemed to be planning something.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Vega, Faust, Rigel and Kazegama left an hospital. "Dude, I didn't know that findinga kid's folks could be that tough." Vega sighed.

"We don't even know if that kid has parents." Kazegama said. "He has no memory and all the people we talked with had no idea of who he is... Talk about weird."

"Indeed." Faust agreed. "I wonder what may happen to him if we do not find his parents."

"Well, he'll be probably sent to an orphanage." Rigel stated. "However, he should be sent to a special orphanage since he has no ID or anything."

"A special orphanage?" Vega asked. "What do ya mean?"

"It's a place where the kids without memory or ID are sent to." Rigel explained."Orphans newborn babies are sent to there as well. There used to be several of those places back in the Hollow War."

"You mean like the ones where we grew up?" Kazegama asked.

"Basically, yeah." Rigel replied. "You guys remember how it was like, don't you?"

"Yeah... When a child with no ID was sent there, he'd be isolated for a few days while the ones in charge of him tried to find something about him." Faust replied. "Most of times nothing was uncovered and the child would end up joining the other children."

"Without knowing who he is, the little dude'll be probably go through that." Vega said. "It'll be tough for him."

Kazegama sighed. "If you think it'll be hard for the kid, it'll be even harder for Star." He said earning some confused glances from the others. "Think about it. The kid stayed with Star for only a few hours and quickly became infatueted with her. Also, Star seems to be really fond of him too."

Silence fell over the group. "Dude, that won't be pretty." Vega said.

"There's no telling if that'll happen for real." Faust said. "Our friends are still looking. There's still a chance."

"I'm not saying that there isn't one." Kazegama said. "I'm just saying that things won't be easy for Star and the kid if the worst case scenario happens. Anyway, we gotta keep trying."

Rigel nodded. "That's right. Let's go!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"I see... Thanks for the help anyway." X said to the orphanage caretaker before him and Star left the building.

Star sighed. "That was the last place and we got nothing..." She said. "It's like no one knows the kid!"

"Maybe... Maybe he lost his parents due some sort of accident." X suggested. "That could explain his memory loss."

"Maybe..." Star said. "Poor kid... So young and all by himself..."

"He's been alone for a while now... It's no wonder he likes you so much, Star." X said. "You were probably the first person to treat him well."

Star looked at her friend. "You might be right, X... When I found him, he looked so... so afraid..." She said. "He's probably gone through a lot before I found him."

With a sigh, Star glanced at the sky. "None of us had an easy childhood growing up in orphaneges and stuff... Even though we made true friends..." She said. "I wanted to help the kid so he wouldn't have to go through what we did when we were kids..."

"Star..." X placed a hand on her shoulder. "The others are still searching. They probably found something."

"I hope so, X..." Star said. "I really hope so."

Both friends walked in silence, pondering about the fate of the little kid they had met.

"Hey!" A voice suddenly cried. Axl and the others walked up to them. "Well?"

"We got nothing." X frowned. "What about you?"

"Well, we found this nametag." Alpheon replied giving it to Star. "It's got the kid's photo, but we can't read his name. This thing got burned or something."

"Where did you find it?" Star asked.

"Some guy gave it to Alpheon, but he vanished before we could ask him about it." StarZ replied.

"That's pretty weird." X said. "You knew who it was, Alpheon?"

"Well, he looked kinda familiar to me, but I can't figure out why." Alpheon replied.

"Well, I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of that guy." Zero said. "Anyway, all we got was the nametag."

"At least you guys got something." Vega said as he and his group arrived. "Bummer dudes, we got nothing." He sighed. "And we even check hospitals and soup kitchens, but no one ever heard about the little tyke."

"That brings us back to the starting point..." DMZ said.

"So, now what?" Kazegama asked.

"Let's check with the girls." X decided. "It's all we can do."

The gang agreed and they headed to the Green Light House. Once they arrived, they were greeted by the girls.

"Hey, guys." Pallette said. "Did you have any luck?"

"Negative." Star replied shaking her head. "What about you?"

"We did some research, but there's no data about the kid either on the missing children databese or the orphans one." Layer replied.

The group exchanged glances. "So, where's the kid?" StarZ finally asked.

"Over there." Alia pointed to a nearby table where the kid sat. "He's been doing something eversince we got here."

Star walked up to the kid and tapped on his shoulder. "Hey, kid."

The kid turned around to look at her and let out a huge grin. "You're back!" He squealed as he hugged Star tightly.

"I'm glad to see ya too." Star giggled as the kid let go of her. "Did you behave while I was out?"

"Yup. I stayed here and waited for you just like you asked." The kid replied. "Oh, I got a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" Star asked raising an eyebrown.

"It's a present!" The kid replied giving her a piece of paper before looking at the others. "I also made for you guys."

Before Star could ask what was that all about, the kid gave X and the others a piece of paper each one. Looking at the papers, the gang found pictures of themselves! The kid had made drawings of them and they looked pretty good.

"Whoa... That's awesome!" Axl said. "You did that?"

"Yup." The kid replied with a proud grin.

"Awesome work, dude!" Vega said. "Where'd ya learn how to draw like that?"

"I dunno." The kid shrugged. "I always liked to draw."

"Well, with some practice you could become a real pro." Faust said.

"I just do it for fun." The kid said. "Besides, I wanted to thank you guys for being my friends."

"Well, you're welcome." DMZ said.

The kid giggled making everybody smile. "Talk about one unique kid." X said.

Star nodded. "Yeah." She said walking towards the kid.

"Something wrong, Star?" The kid asked as Star knelt in front of him to make eye contact with him.

Star took a deep breath and picked the nametag from her pocket. "Kid... My friends and I tried to find something about you, but all we got was the slightly burned nametag with your photo." She said putting the nametag on his neck. "So... until we find more about you... would you accept me as you guardian and live with me?"

Everybody was taken aback by Star's decision. "Star? Are you sure about this?" Alia asked.

"I'm sixteen... That means I'm old enough to be someone's guardian." Star replied ruffling the kid's hair. "Besides, I always wanted a little brother. It won't be an easy task, but I'm up for the challenge."

Star glanced at the little boy. He had a few tears on his eyes. "Kid?"

Without hesitation, the tyke hugged Star tightly. "Star..." He whispered.

"I'll take that as yes." Star smiled picking him up.

"Well, all in favor of making this kid a member of our group say aye." X said.

"AYE!" The gang said in unison.

"I guess it's oficial now." Star giggled. "Welcome aboard, Vee."

"Vee?" Pallette asked.

"Well, we can't call him kid forever, you know." Star replied. "Also, check out his hair. There's a white streak on it."

"A V shapped streak." Alia said looking at the kid's hair. "Sounds fitting."

"So, what do you think?" Star asked the little kid.

"I like it!" The kid squealed. "You can call me Vee!"

Everybody couldn't help but laughing at that. "He's so spunky and childish." Axl grinned. "He reminds me of someone."

StarZ raised an eyebrown. "Who? Yourself one week ago?"

Axl scowled at StarZ's comment, but he had an idea. "Nope." He smirked. "I was thinking about you yesterday."

"Are you calling me a baby!" StarZ asked angry.

"Pretty much." Axl shrugged.

The gang rolled their eyes as Axl and StarZ started another argument. "There they go again..." Faust sighed.

Vee looked confused as Star put him down. "Are they always like that?"

"Well, in a way, yes." Rigel replied.

"They tend to tease each other." Layer added. "If one mocks the other, they're bound to start yet another fight."

Vee crossed his arms as if he was thinkg about something. "Hey, what's the matter, Vee?" Kazegama asked.

The little tyke didn't reply. Instead he walked towards the bickering duo and started tugging their T-shirts to get their atention.

Finally, Axl and StarZ looked at Vee who crossed his arms and started tapping his right foot. "Do you two need to be so silly?" He asked. "Grow up a bit, will ya?"

Everybody was speechless. No one expected to hear that from a little eight-year-old kid. Vee seemed to be more more mature than your average kid.

"Dude, that's so priceless!" Vega said as he burst into laughter. "Axl and StarZ are being scolded by a kid!"

The others started laughing as well. "Well, he does have a point." Alpheon chuckled. "They are being silly."

"Yeah." DMZ said with a snicker. "Maybe they could learn a thing or two with Vee."

Axl and StarZ glared at Vee, slightly angry. The kid in return gave them a naive an innocent look pretty much oblivious to why everybody was laughing. Axl and StarZ smiled before they started laughing as well. They simply couldn't get mad at Vee.

"Dang... What are we gonna do with yo Vee?" StarZ asked with a smirk as he ruffled Vee's hair.

"Hey, cut it out!" Vee said giggling.

"Hmpf. How do ya like that?" Zero crossed his arms looking amused. "He's been with us for only a day and everybody likes him already."

"He's one really special kid." X smiled.

"You know. I have a feeling we're into a few surprises with him around." Star said with a smile as she picked Vee up and gave him a tight hug.

"That tickles, Star!" Vee giggled.

From afar, Mr. Signas watched the scene nodding in approval. _"Vee'll be safe with Star and her friends for now."_ He thought._ "They should find the truth when the right time comes."_

The gang smiled as they watched Vee's antics while he played with Star. Though his past remained a mystery, Vee's childish and naive nature had made him earn Star and the gang's love and friendship. Together, they would learn and grow up.

_There ya have it. The gang'll be meeting new friends as the plot thickens. So, stay tunned and review!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry about the delay everybody. I've been busy as hell at school. Well, I made my first college exam and... I PASSED IT! I'm so happy so here's chapter 7 to celebrate! Have fun and review! **  
**_

_**Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?**_

The gang was walking out of the school building after another regular day at school. They were going to meet up with Vee. After being 'adopted' by Star, the little kid used to wait for them either at the Green Light House or in front of the school building. Most people'd find weird a little boy hanging out with a group of teens, but X and his friends didn't seem to mind. They quickly found that Vee was a talkative and carefree kid that loved being among them, his friends.

Although part of the gang wouldn't admit, they all enjoyed the kid's company. The girls thought his spunky, yet childish, atitude was cute while the boys kinda liked how Vee admired and looked up to them.

As the group walked, Vee suddenly spotted them. "Star! Guys!" He squealed with a huge smile as he started running towards them.

"Hi, Vee." X smiled as the little kid hugged him. Another thing the gang quickly found about about Vee was that he loved hugging the people he liked. "How ya doing?"

"I'm great now!" Vee replied, hugging Star. "I was waiting for you guys."

"Well, we're here now. You wanna a ride?" Alpheon asked before picking Vee up and giving him a piggyback ride.

Vee laughed in delight as Alpheon carried him around. From the boys, X and Alpheon were the only ones that didn't hide how much they enjoyed Vee's company, much to the kid's happiness.

"Alpheon really likes Vee, huh?" Axl chuckled as the group watched the Black Ninja playing with Vee while they walked down the street.

"As much as Vee likes him, I guess." Rigel said.

"Who would've thought that the great Black Ninja could be as childish as the little squirt." Zero said while smirking.

"C'mon, Zero, don't tell me you wouldn't like to play with Vee like X and Alpheon do." Alia said glancing at him.

"Hmpf! I'm too old for these kids' games." Zero crossed his arms.

"Maybe, but you still find them amusing." Faust said earning a glare from Zero. "Er... Nevermind!"

Vega laughed. "Yeah. It's kinda funny seeing the Alpheon dude playing with Vee, but it'd be kinda embarassing playing too."

"It'd be kinda silly, you mean." Kazegama said.

"How come? You guys do silly things all the time." Layer stated.

"Hey, since when we're silly?" StarZ asked.

"I'm not." DMZ replied. "As for you, ever since I know you."

StarZ scowled at that while the others started laughing.

"Well, aren't you guys a happy bunch?" A voice out of nowhere mused.

The gang stopped and looked around. "Who said that?" Pallette asked.

"Up here." The voice replied as the group looked up. A guy around 18 with dark red eyes and short black hair stood on the top of a tree. He was wearing a long sleeved black shirt, a black leather jacket, black shorts, boots and a black and gray headband around his forehead. He was smilling casually as the group while shuffling a deck of cards.

"Who are you?" Star asked.

The teen leaped from his branch and landed in front of Star. "Precursor Shadow." He replied flashing a grin. "At your service."

"Precursor Shadow?" Vee asked before giggling. "That's a cool name."

P. Shadow glanced at Vee smirking. "Hhmm... What do we have here?" He mused taking a good look at the kid. "Hey there, kid."

"Hi! I'm Vee!" Vee said smiling. "Nice to meet ya, Precursor Shadow!"

P. Shadow chuckled. "What a kid." He said walking away. "Better keep an eye on him. Things matter when they're gone."

In a matter of seconds, he was outta sight. "What was that all about?" Axl asked. "Who was that guy, anyway?"

"Precursor Shadow, card player, gambler and a true enigma to boot." Zero replied. "He's at my, Layer and Kazegama's class. Other than that, who knows what's he all about."

"Talk about an enigma." StarZ said crossing his arms.

"Enigma? He seems to be a nice guy to me." Vee said. "He was pretty nice with me when we talked."

"Talked?" DMZ asked raising an eyebrown. "Since when you know him?"

"I meet him three days ago." Vee replied. "I was waiting for you guys when he walked up to me and started talking with me, but he walked away before I could ask him his name."

"That's pretty weird." Kazegama said. "I don't remember seeing that guy talking with anyone, let alone a kid like Vee."

"Maybe he doesn't make friends easily." Vee suggested.

"Maybe, but it's kinda hard to trust someone as mysterious as him." X said. "Perhaps we should be more cautious about him."

"I agree." Star said. "Vee, until we make sure we can trust Precursor Shadow, I don't want you to talk with him alone, okay?"

"Okay, Star. I promise." Vee said.

"Well, that settles it." Alpheon said. "Let's get going."

The group of friends walked away.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

The next day, at the cafeteria, X and his friends were talking about the mysterious guy, Precursor Shadow.

"So, what did you guys unconver?" Alpheon asked.

"According to some people from our classes, Precursor Shadow'd been watching us from afar eversince Vee started hanging out with us." Layer started.

"And some people saw him talking with Vee three days ago like Vee told us." Alia added.

"From what we heard, he walked up to Vee and asked him what he was doing in front of the school." Pallette said. "And when Vee told him that he was waiting for us he asked him if he liked being with us. Then, he simply walked away after Vee said yes."

"Okay... That's pretty weird." Vega said.

"That guy's sudden interest on Vee worries me." X said crossing his arms. "I hope I'm wrong, but he could me trouble."

"I know. That's why I got this for Vee." Star said showing the gang a sky blue PET with a white v painted on it. "With this PET, we should be able to keep an eye on him. Pallette, could you and Rigel install a tracking device on it while I take Vee to the library after school?"

Pallette and Rigel nodded. "Sure thing, Star." Rigel replied as Star gave her Vee's PET. "That shouldn't take long."

"Thanks a lot, girls." Star smiled. "By the way, gang, could you guys keep that a secret? I wanna make a surprise for Vee."

"Sure, Star." Axl said.

"In the meantime, we'll try to figure out what that guy's up to." Zero said. "Got it?"

The others agreed.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Star? Where are we going?" Vee asked as he followed Star.

"To the library." Star replied. "I need some books for my homework. Once we're done, we'll meet up with the gang at the Green Light House."

"Okay!" Vee said holding Star's hand.

As they were talking, they were walking in front of a building site. Some workers were using a wrecking ball to demolish the old building. "Okay. Let's carry on." One of them said.

As the huge wrecking ball was being lifted, the workers, Vee and Star suddenly heard a loud snap! The steel cables holding the ball had broken and the giant ball was going to fall... On Star and Vee!

"Look out!" One of the workers yelled at Star and Vee.

Star looked up and gasped. "VEE! RUN!" She yelled tackling him out of the way, before she threw herself to the ground.

The next thing Star knew, she heard a loud crash and some wooden boards from a neaby fence fell on her. "V-Vee..." She whispered fainting.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Hey, she's waking up!!" Was the first thing Star heard when she regained consciouness. "Hey, you okay?"

Star opened her eyes. "I think so..." She said glancing at one of the workers who helped her up. Star glanced at herself: she had several scratces on her limbs and nasty wound on her head. "Close call..."

"Thank heavens you're safe." The other worker sighed in relief.

Star suddenly gasped. "Vee?! Vee, where are you?!" She yelled calling her little friend before turning to the two workers. "Please, where is my friend? Is he okay?"

The workers looked away. "That kid... He fell..." One of them said pointing towards a hole next to the wrecking ball. "Over there..."

"No..." Star whispered with some tears on her eyes.

"There seems to be an underground tunnel down there." One of the workers said glancing at the hole. "Can't see much though."

"An underground tunnel... That's it!" Star yelled running off.

"Wait! You're still injured!" The workers yelled.

Too late. Star was long gone. However, someone watched her leave.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

At the Green Light House, Rigel and Pallette finished working on Vee's PET. "All done!" Pallette said. "Vee should have no trouble using this PET."

"I'm sure he'll be glad with Star's gift." Rigel said.

"Speaking of them, shouldn't they be here by now?" Vega asked.

"They should show up anytime soon." Kazegama replied.

Suddenly, the door was burst open and an injured and bleeding Star ran into the place. "Guys..." She whispered. "Help..."

The gang gasped. "STAR?!" Her friends yelled. Quickly, Alpheon and DMZ grabbed her before she collapsed and helped her sit down.

"Star, you okay?" X asked worried. "What happened?"

Star just sobbed. "Vee... He... He..."

"Star, please, calm down!" Layer said. "Axl, get her a glass of water now!"

"I'm on it!" Axl said running off. A few seconds later, he returned with a glass of water and Mr. Signas. "I called Mr. Signas."

"Drink this, Star." Alpheon said giving her the glass of water.

Star drank a few gulps of water before sighing.

"Now, Star, what happened?" Mr. Signas gently asked.

"Vee and I were heading to the library... We were walking past a building site when the steel cables of a wrecking ball broke off." Star replied before taking a deep breath. "We were nearly crushed, but the ball's impact made a huge hole on the ground that leads to the City underground tunnels... Vee fell on it and he vanished..."

X and his friends exchanged shocked glances. That was serious.

"We gotta find him!" StarZ suddenly yelled.

"I agree, but how?" Faust asked. "Due the Hollow War, there are several tunnels all over the city! Vee could be anywhere!"

"Maybe I can help." Mr. Signas said. "Being a former soldier, I still have a map of all underground passageways of this city. I can upload the data into your PETs."

"Do it, Mr. Signas." Zero decided. "Once we get the data, we'll check out the neighborhood to find Vee."

Mr. Signas picked the gang's PETs and started working.

"Vee's my responsability..." Star said trying to get up.

"Star, stay still. Don't push yourself too hard." DMZ said. "Vee's a tough kid. He'll be okay. I'm positive on it."

"DMZ..." Star whispered.

"We'll find Vee, Star. He means a lot to everybody." X said.

Sighing, Star nodded. "Okay..." She said looking at a nearby window: the sky was becoming dark and cloudy. "Vee... Be safe..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Vee winced rubbing his head as he sat down. He had hit the ground pretty hard and gotten a few bruises in the process. "Man, that hurt..." He said looking around. "Star? Star! Star, where are you?!"

No answer. Vee closed his eyes and recalled how he had ended up there. After Star had pushed him, he saw a huge metal ball crashing just a few inches from her. It had fallen at the construction site's wooden fence making a few boards fall on her. Vee tried to help her, but the ground beneath him suddenly crumbled away and he fell...

"I've gotta get out of here and find Star." Vee whispered getting up. His body ached, but he didn't mind. He glanced at the nametag around his neck. "The gang's probably worried sick about me..."

Sighing, Vee glanced around the dark tunnel. "They told me about the underground tunnels and that one leads to the Green Light House..." He stated. "If I find the right tunnel, I should be able to get out of here... I hope."

Hesitating a bit, the little kid ventured deeper into the tunnel. Little did he know that someone was following him.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Okay. We got the maps." Zero said looking at his PET. "Let's roll."

"So, where do we start looking?" Axl asked. "After falling, Vee probably wandered off trying to find a way out."

"That's possible... We did tell him that there's a tunnel that leads back to this place." Alia stated.

"Either way, we should start at the place he was last seen at." Faust said. "From there we can spread out and search."

The others nodded in agreement when a thunder cracked.

"Just what we needed... A storm." DMZ said.

"Vee's afraid of the thunder..." Star whispered as Layer finished tending to her wounds. "He's probably scared and lonely..."

"We'll find him, Star." Layer said trying to confort her.

Star nodded. She took a deep breath and got up.

"Are you sure you wanna come along?" StarZ asked. "You got a lot of bruises."

"I'm fine, StarZ, I mean it." Star replied.

"Guess we won't change your mind, Star, but try taking it easy." X said. "Pushing yourself too hard won't help."

Star nodded.

"Well, let's rock!" Vega said.

"Mr. Signas, call us if Vee shows up." Alpheon said. "He's a smart kid so it's possible that he finds a way back."

Mr. Signas nodded. "Good luck kids."

X and his friends nodded and ran off.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Vee explored the tunnel. Even though it had lights, he couldn't see much. "It's so creepy in here..." He whispered. "I wanna go home..."

Suddenly, he heard voices. "Okay, you knuckleheads, listen up!" One voice said. "This is our base now so we gotta keep meddlers out! Got that?"

"Yes, boss!" A group of voices replied in unison.

"Oh-uh... that doesn't sound good." Vee said. "I shouldn't do this, but... Aw, here goes!"

Following the voices, Vee found himself at the core of the underground tunnels. From that place, one could reach other tunnels and head to any other part of the city. "Whoa..." The little kid said in awe.

"What was that?" A voice asked.

Thinking fast, Vee hid behind a nearby pile of rocks. _"Phew... Close one..."_ He thought. _"If they catch me it won't be pretty."_

Peeking from the pile of rocks, Vee found that the voices belonged to a group of five strong looking street punks.

"Probably a rat." The strongest punk, probably the leader, replied. "Time to plan our next move."

"A street gang..." Vee whispered as he heard them planning a bank robbery. "Star told me about that kind of people... They're bad and dangerous."

Slowly, the little kid backed away to run when a loud thunder suddenly echoed throughout the tunnels. "Yikes!" Vee yelled starled falling on his back.

The punks looked at him surprised. "Hey, what's that little shrimp doing here?" One of the punks asked.

"Err... Don't mind me." Vee quickly said trying to find a way out of that mess. "I'm just a lost little boy trying to find his way home!"

"Yeah, right." The leader mocked. "What do we look like? Stupid?"

"_Look in the mirror and you'll know the answer."_ Vee thought. "It's true!" He said trying to sound convincing. "I just wanna go home..."

"Awww... The poor little boy wanna go home." One of the punks laughed. "I'm think I'm gonna cry!"

"Listen, you twerp, no one messes with us and gets away with it!" The leader cracked his knuckles. "And since you found our secret base, we can't let you leave this place."

The punks started walking towards Vee. _"What do I do? What do I do now?!"_ He thought panicking. _"Star... Guys... What should I do?"_

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Vee!" X called for the little boy as he, Star, DMZ and Alpheon searched at the building site area. "Vee, answer us!"

A few raindrops from the sky followed by lighting was his only answer. "The storm is quickly approaching..." Alpheon said before looking at the hole. "Yo, DMZ! Got anything?"

DMZ leapt out of the hole. "There's no way to tell for sure which way Vee went after falling." He said frowning. "The tunnel goes on for miles in both ways."

"Now I know..." Star whispered. "Things matter when they're gone..."

"That's what that guy, Precursor Shadow, told us yesterday." X said. "It's almost like he knew that this could happen."

"I can't confirm that theory, but now that you mentioned that guy..." DMZ started digging one of his pockets. "I found this down there."

DMZ showed them a card. "A jack of spades?" Alpheon asked. "I wonder how that got here..."

"Wait a minute." Star picked the card and turned it around. "I've seen this card before... Now I remember! It's one of Precursor Shadow's cards!"

"Huh? How do you know?" Alpheon asked.

"He was shuffling a deck of cards when we met him, remember?" Star explained. "I noticed the cards' back."

DMZ crossed his arms. "You guys think..."

"Let's not jump ahead on conclusions." X decided. "It could be just a coincidence. Everyone is innocent until is proven otherwise."

"Maybe, but it does sound odd..." Alpheon said. "Better check with the others, they could've found something else."

X nodded and picked up his PET. "This is X calling the gang." He said. "Everyone, how is it going?"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Alia was the first one to reply. "Alia here. I don't think Vee's headed towards the east side of the city." She said. "So far, Rigel, Kazegama, Layer, Pallette and myself haven't found any sign of him."

"Have you guys seen Precursor Shadow?" Star asked.

The group exchanged confused glances. "Well, not really." Rigel replied. "Why do you ask?"

"We found one of his cards on the hole where Vee fell." Alpheon replied. "It could be just just a coincidence, but..."

"Hey, something just hit me." Kazegama said. "That guy usually hangs out at the Green Light house after school, but today he never showed up."

"Yeah, now that you mentioned it, you're right." Layer said.

"Hhmmm... Another coincidence?" Pallette asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not." DMZ replied. "Right now that's not the point."

"Roger. Keep looking guys." X said. "Hey, Zero, can you hear me?"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Loud and clear, buddy." Zero replied as he, Axl, StarZ, Vega and Faust ventured inside a tunnel. "We were hearing the hole thing. That's why we were silent."

"Man... Vee's probably scared and I can't really blame him." Vega said. "This place creeps me out."

"I find it rather frighting as well." Faust said. "What should we do if we find Precursor Shadow?"

"First, try asking him if he knows Vee's whereabouts." Star replied. "He seems to be the kind of guy that knows more than he's telling."

"And what if he doesn't tell us a thing?" Axl asked.

"Then we'll have to make him talk." StarZ replied.

"Easy, guys." X told them. "So far we can't tell for sure if he has something to do with this whole story."

"Got it, X." Zero said. "We'll be on the look out for anything strange. If we find Vee, we'll call you guys."

"Good luck, guys." Star said. "Be careful."

The group hang up. "Dang... I sure hope Vee's okay..." StarZ sighed. "I... I kinda miss him..."

"I miss him too." Axl frowned. "He's spunky and childish... And he always manages to make us laugh with his antics."

"Look, Vee may be a kid, but he's pretty tough for his size." Zero said. "He spent more than a month on the streets before Star found him. He can take care of himself for a while so get moving."

Zero started walking faster. "Gee, Zero does have a point." Vega whispered to the others. "But I'm worried about the little dude."

"So am I, my friend." Faust whispered back. "Even though Zero does not admit, he seems to be worried about Vee as well."

Axl and StarZ nodded in agreement and the four started walking faster.

In the lead, Zero kept walking trying to sound and look calm. He told his friends that Vee would be okay, but in his heart he wasn't that sure. _"Vee, where are you?"_ He thought.

A sudden scream not only snapped Zero out of his thought, but it starled the others as well. "What was that?" Vega asked.

"It sounded like a child's scream." Faust replied before freezing.

The five friends gasped. "VEE!" They yelled in unison.

"He's in trouble! Let's go!" Zero said as the group ran off.

"Hang in there, Vee!" StarZ yelled. "We're coming!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

_A few minutes earlier..._

"Hold still, you little brat!" A punk yelled as he tried to punch Vee.

Vee backed away as he dodged the punk's blows. _"I can't dodge that punk forever."_ Vee thought worried. _"What do I do?"_

"You're mine, twerp!" A second punk yelled lunging at Vee while holding a bar.

Thinking fast, Vee ducked, allowing both punks to crash at each other and knocking them down. "Sorry, but that serves you both right." Vee said looking at the fallen punks.

"No kid fools my buddies and gets away with it!" Another punk yelled lunging at Vee.

Vee sighed. "Man, you guys are so hopeless." He whispered as he picked the nearby iron bar and he used it to to make the punk trip up and fall face first on the ground. "Say, could we stop this now?" Vee asked rubbing the back of his head. "This is kinda annoying."

"I'll show you annoying!" The fourth punk roared charging at Vee while holding another iron bar. A bigger one.

"Whoah!" Vee yelled starled as he quickly brought up his iron bar to protect himself from the blow.

"Once I'm done with you, my friends will have a lot of fun with you." The punk sneered while he kept striking harder and harder at Vee. "You're toast, squirt!"

"Only my friends can call me squirt!" Vee said blocking a hard blow. The punk tried to break through the kid's defenses, but Vee wasn't going to give up. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Your time's up!" Vee smirked as he stepped to side.

The punk lost his balance before he crashed into the wall. "Ouch... That must've hurt." Vee winced as he saw the punk falling out cold before glancing at the leader. "Well, that's that."

"Gotta admit, kid, you got guts." The head punk said. "I've got an offer for you: join my group and you'll be my right-hand man... Er... I mean kid. I could use someone talented like you."

Vee shook his head. "Sorry, but no thanks." He said. "I already have a gang and they might be looking for me by now."

The head honcho's eyes widened in surprise. "You're saying you're the leader of your very own street gang?!"

"Huh? No!" Vee replied. "The gang I have is Star and all my friends from her school. After their classes are over, we hang out and have a lot of fun together."

"You're telling me you'd rather hang out with a bunch of goody-goody teens rather than working for one of the most feared street gang in the entire Hollow City?!" The punk said furious.

"Basically, yeah." Vee said with a shrug. "No offense, but I'm not a street punk like you."

"That's it!" The leader roared lunging at Vee. "You had your chance and you wasted it, kid! Now you're gonna get it."

_ "Here we go again..."_ Vee thought with a sigh as he held up the bar to protect himself again.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice yelling. "Hang in there, Vee!" It yelled. "We're coming!"

Vee blinked surprised. _"StarZ?"_ He thought dropping his guard for only a few seconds.

The punk smirked. "Now you're mine!"

Before Vee could react. The punk punched him on the gut, knocking the air out of him. Smiling evily, the punk grabbed Vee by the collar of his jacket and lifted him up. "Who's the street scum now?" He mocked before throwing Vee into a wall.

"Ugh..." Vee groaned as he slowly slid down. The impact with the wall had hit some of his previous wounds and he couldn't think straight.

"Well, you ain't as tough as I thought." The punk mused as he picked the iron bar before walking towards little tyke. "Too bad, kid. You'd have made a good gang member."

Vee growled trying to move, but his body was numb from the injuries and his fear. _"Star... Guys... Help..."_

The leader raised the bar above his head. "Say good night!" He said as the bar quickly descended.

Scared, Vee closed his eyes. Suddenly, a flying object was shot out of nowhere and hit the punk's wrist. "Argh!" He yelped as he dropped the bar. "Who threw that?!"

Vee slowly opened his eyes and saw what was thrown at the punk lying next to him. "A card?" He whispered.

"Actually, that's an Ace of Spades." Precursor Shadow replied walking out of a tunnel. "Anyway, it gets the job done."

Vee looked up surprised. "You?"

"So, your friend's come to your rescue?" The punk mocked. "Well, I can handle him with no trouble."

P. Shadow just chuckled. "Heh, you street scum are all the same." He crossed his arms. "All talk, no action. Typical."

"Let's see if your cockiness lasts after I'm done beating you up!" The punk lunged at Precursor Shadow with his fists clenched.

"Hmpf. You got a lot to learn." P. Shadow smirked. With a somersault, he jumped over the punk who quickly turned around and tried to punch him several times, but the mysterious teen easily dodged all the blows.

"Argh! Hold still!" The leader growled throwing one more punch.

P. Shadow grabbed his arm. "Basic combat rule: know your opponent." He said as the punk tried to break free. "If your goons can't beat a little kid, then you can't beat me."

With that, Precursor Shadow threw the punk over his shoulder making him hit the ground with a loud thud. "You..." He mumbled as he blacked out.

"Don't mess with the best." P. Shadow smirked as he dusted off his jacket before looking at Vee who was trying to get up. "I told those guys to keep an eye on the kid. Perhaps I'm giving them too much credit."

Vee watched as Precursor Shadow walked towards him. Then, everything went black.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Finally, Zero and the boys arrived at the tunnel's core, only to find five beaten up punks. "What happened here?" Axl asked.

"Looks like it was a tough battle." Vega stated.

"Vee!! Vee, where are you?!" StarZ yelled. "It's me, StarZ! Answer me!"

A soft groan was their only answer. The head punk was waking up. "Man, talk about the devil's luck." He groaned as he got up unaware of Zero and the others' presence. "Just when I thought I had found the perfect base, a little brat finds us and beats up four of my best men! And when I was almost done teaching that rascal a lesson someone had to knock me out!"

The group exchanged glances. Zero walked up to the punk. "You're saying you hurt a kid just because you found your base by accident?!"

The punk turned around. "Yeah, so wha...?!" He gasped as Zero grabbed him by the collar of the shirt.

"You made a big mistake." Zero hissed. "That kid's one of my friends and NO ONE hurts my friends and gets away with it!" Without warning, Zero punched the punk so hard ont the jaw he was sent flying into the oppositive wall.

"Whoa..." The others said in awe. Zero was generally a cool headed guy, but now he looked really pissed off.

Zero rubbed his fist. "That scum won't bother anyone else for a long time." He said as he glared at the unconcious punk.

"So, what should we do now?" Faust asked.

"That punk said that Vee beat four of his best men before he fought him." StarZ stated. "And he also said that someone knocked him out before he could finish the job."

"So, whoever did that saverd the little dude?" Vega asked.

"Seems like it." Axl replied before he spotted something on the ground. "Huh? Guys, check this out!"

Axl showed them what he had found. "An Ace of Spades?" StarZ asked. "Wait a minute... This is from..."

"Precursor Shadow!" The group sai in unison.

"He saved Vee? Whoa, didn't see that coming." Vega said.

"Indeed. There's more about that fellow than meets the eye I believe." Faust said. "But, where is he right now?"

"I don't know about that, but if we find him, we'll find Vee too." Zero decided. "Let's go see the others. Star needs to know this."

The others nodded and the group walked away.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

A throobing headache woke Vee up. "Ow... My head..." He whispered opening his eyes. "Huh? Where am I?"

Looking around, Vee found himself resting on a park bench. Someone had bandaged his left arm and there was a bandaid on his right cheek. "What happened? How did I get here?" He asked himself as he sat down.

"About time you woke up, kid." P. Shadow said walking up to him.

"Precursor Shadow?" Vee cocked his head confused. "You saved me?"

P. Shadow didn't reply. Instead he gave Vee a small bottle of water. "Drink this." He said before checking Vee's arm. "Hm, you're pretty tough, kid. Your arm'll be fine in a few days."

Vee was thirsty so he drank the whole bottle in a few gulps. "Thank you..." He said smiling a bit. "For the water... and for helping me."

Precursor Shadow just smirked at the little kid patting his head.

Vee giggled a bit when a cold wind started blowing and a few raindrops started falling from the sky. "A storm's coming." He said wrapping his arms around himself. "It's cold..."

Precursor Shadow took off his jacket and covered Vee with it. "Use this." He said. "Last thing you need is to catch a cold."

"Thanks." Vee smiled. "Say, why is a cool guy like you always alone?"

"Let's just say I'm not a big fan of crowds." P. Shadow replied. "Besides, who would want to hang out with a shady guy like me?"

"I would." Vee answered. "If you were a bad person, why would you help me?"

"Just felt like it." P. Shadow replied with a shrug.

"That answers my question. You're a good person." Vee giggled before he felt some raindrops falling on his head. "Oh-uh... It's raining..." He wrapped his arms around his legs and closed his eyes. In a few seconds, he dozed off.

"Guess he had a rough day." Precursor Shadow said as the rain was falling harder. "There's only one thing to do."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Things looked quite gloomy at the Green Light House. Part of the gang was gathered trying to figure out what to do. Night had fallen and the rain had become a downpour.

"We searched the whole city and we got nothing." Pallette said. "Shouldn't we call the police for help?"

"They only consider a person missing after that that person is not seen for 24 hours." Alia replied. "And even if we called them, they would only start searcking for Vee in the morning."

"Vee..." Star whispered looking out the window. Some tears were forming in her eyes.

DMZ walked up to her and embraced her. "It'll be okay, Star." He whispered softly. "Zero and the others probably found him."

Suddenly, the door opened. Everybody looked up and gasped surprised to see Precursor Shadow walking into the place without his jacker, all soaked up and carrying something on his back. "Yo, kids." He smirked at them.

"You! What are you doing here?" X asked.

"Hey, this is a teens hang out, right?" Precursor Shadow said with a nonchalant tone. "Besides, I was looking for you."

Precursor Shadow walked up to a nearby table and placed what he was carrying on the chair next to it. Everybody gasped: it was Vee! The little kid was all soaked, wrapped in P. Shadow's jacket and sleeping soundly. They could see some bandages on the kids' arm too.

"Vee!" Star nearly yelled, half relieved, half surprised to see the little kid.

Star's voice awoke Vee from his slumber. With a yawn, he got off the chair and looked around. When he spotted Star, he smiled with a few tears on his eyes. "Star!" He squealed throwing himself into her arms.

Smiling, Star embraced the little kid. Tears of joy and relief ran down her face. "Vee, I'm so glad you're safe." She whispered.

Vee suddenly noticed Star's wounds and frowned. "Forgive me..." He whispered earning confused looks from the gang. "You got hurt because of me and I made you and the others worry... For that I'm sorry."

Star just smiled tenderly at Vee before hugging him again. "It's all right." She said softly. "You're safe. That's what it matters."

X and the others smiled at the scene. Precursor Shadow just grinned before heading towards the door.

"Hey! Stop right where you are!" Alpheon said.

"That's right. You owe us some explanations." DMZ added.

"Explanations?" P. Shadow asked without turning around.

"Don't play dumb with us!" Kazegama said clenching his fists. "We know that you've been watching Vee from afar for a while and we found one of your cards where he vanished! Just what are you up to?"

"What am I up to? Nothing." P. Shadow turned around with a shrug. "About watching the kid, it's kinda unusual seeing a group like you watching over and some of you even playing with him, so you'd probabably worried if he vanished."

"So that's why you said things mattered when they were gone." Layer stated.

"That still doesn't explain what Vee was doing with you." X said.

"After falling into that tunnel, Vee was ambushed by five punks." Zero said as he and the others walked into the place. "Even though Vee managed to beat for of them, the head honcho had him cornered. He would've been in a mess if Percursor Shadow hadn't showed up."

Everybody was surprised by that. "It's true." Vee said as Star put him down. "He also bandaged my arm and brought me here." He added pointing to his arm. "But how do you know that, Zero?"

Zero showed the gang P. Shadow's card. "We found this while exploring the tunnels to find you." He replied.

"We also found the beaten up punks and the leader told us the whole thing." Axl added. "That is, until Zero knocked him out."

"We would've arrived sooner, but the storm kinda slowed us down." Vega said.

Silence. "Well, guess you have your answers." Precursor Shadow said walking towards the door. "Ciao."

"Wait." Star said placing a hand on his shoulder. "Precursor Shadow... I... We were wrong about you and for that I apologize. You saved Vee and took care of him and I'm really grateful for that." She took a short breath. "I know this may sound kinda awkward, but wouldn't you like to be our friends and hang out with us?"

"I'm no fan of crowds, kid, but..." P. Shadow smirked. "Who knows? That could be interesting. I'll think about it."

Star and Vee smiled. Precursor Shadow grinned at them and left.

"Well, what do you know? Guess one can't judge a book by its cover." Rigel said. "At least evertyhing's okay now."

"There's just one thing left to do." Zero said looking at Vee.

The little tyke gulped. "Oh-uh... Am I in trouble?"

"Well, that depends." Alpheon replied. "You've gotten yourself in quite a lot of trouble today, Vee. I might as well have to keep an eye on you from now on."

"But that'll take away most of your free time!" Vee said upset.

"I'm just kidding, Vee. Relax." Alpheon chuckled ruffling Vee's hair.

"One thing I didn't understand." Faust said. "How did Vee manage to topple four strong punks all by himself?"

"Well, I learned a few things by mimicking you guys when you sparred." Vee replied. "But I also always knew how to fight a bit before I met you."

"So, someone taught you how to fight?" StarZ asked.

"Maybe..." Vee replied. "I can't remember much."

"Well, with a bit of practice, you can do better." Zero said . "We'll need to work on that."

"We?" Vee asked confused.

"That's right. Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna train you after school." Zero said before looking at Star. "That is, if Star agrees."

Star just shook her head looking amused. "Even if I said no, you would do it anyway, Zero." She chuckled. "Well, that'd be a good way to keep Vee outta too much trouble when we're not around." She glanced at DMZ and the others. "That okay with you boys?"

"Well, Zero was the one who volunteered to train him..." StarZ said rubbing the back of his head before smirking. "But, what the heck, I guess I could teach him a thing or two."

"Hhmm... I know a few ninjitsu moves that Vee could learn with no problem." Alpheon said. "This could be interesting."

"Hey, I know a few tricks too!" Vega said. "The little dude will love it!"

"Well, if you guys are really gonna teach him something, then let someone older and more experienced lend a hand." Kazegama said.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistence as well." Faust said.

"Hey, don't forget about us! Zero trained me and X, but that doesn't mean we don't know a few secrets too." Axl said while X nodded.

"Wow... This is so gonna be cool!" Vee said before looking at DMZ. "What about you, DMZ?"

Everybody looked at DMZ who crossed his arms. "Meh, if things are really gonna be that way... Then I guess it's up to me to teach the squirt how to fight for real." He decided.

"Awesome!" Vee squealed.

X couldn't help but laughing. "This is kinda funny." He chuckled. "Yesterday, all of you guys said it would be either silly or embarassing to play with Vee and now here you are all willing to train him."

The boys glanced at each other while the girls giggled. "I didn't know you guys liked Vee so much." Rigel said. "That's so sweet."

"Gimme a break." Zero said crossing his arms. "There's a big difference between playing with and training someone. Vee needs to learn how to take care of himself. We'll not be always around when he gets in trouble you know."

"I got your point, Zero, but I'm still happy about you guys training me." Vee said before hugginh the teen. "Thank you!"

That caught Zero and the others off guard. Sure, they knew Vee loved hugging his friends, but around most of the boys, specially Zero who he looked up and respected a lot, he'd be usually shy.

"Huh? Sorry!" Vee said as he suddenly realised what he was doing. He was about to let go when he felt an arm around his shoulders. He looked up and he was surprised to see Zero smiling at him. "Zero?"

"Well, you had a rough day so I guess you deserve a break." Zero said. "But I'm warning ya, I'm not a nice teacher."

Vee just smiled nodding. "Right. I'll do my best."

Axl placed his hands behing his head smirking. "Hey, Zero, didn't know you were that good with kids."

Zero smirked back at him. "I have practice. After all, I've been putting up with you and X for years." He said. "You two always had a knack for trouble and I was usually the one who had to get you out of it."

"Hey, that's not true!" X and Axl said in unison before glancing at each other. "Huh? What gives?"

Everybody started laughing. Axl and X soon joined them. After what had happene, a good laughter was all they needed.

From afar, Mr. Signas smiled at the group of teens. _"Looks like X and his friends learned two important lessons today: never take things for granted for they may not be always there and never judge someone before knowing both sides of the story."_ He thought glancing out at the window. _"Maybe they weren't the only ones that learned something important today." _

Precursor Shadow stood in front of the windown. He had watched the whole thing. With a grin, he left. "Being part of a gang..." He whispered before smirking. "This may not be a bad idea after all..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Next day, Star was waiting for someone in front of her school. "He should show up anytime soon." She said to herself. "I think."

"Yo." P. Shadow said as he walked up to her. "What's up?"

"I... I was waiting for you." Star replied handing him a plastic bag. "This belongs to you and I wanna return it."

P. Shadow glanced at the item. "My jacket, huh?" He said before wearing it. "Thanks."

"It was the least I could do after everything you did for Vee." Star smiled before she heard the school bell ringing. "Well, gotta go."

Star was about to walk away when P. Shadow tapped her shoulder. "Hey..." He started. "About yesterday..."

"You don't have to answer." Star winked at him. "If you wanna hang out with me and my friends, you know where to find us."

With that she left. Precursor Shadow just smirked before digging up his pockets. "Huh? What is this?" He asked pulling two pieces of paper of one of them. One was drawing of himself shuffling a deck of cards while the other was a small note.

_ Here's a small token of my appreciation for saving me. You're a great guy and I hope we become friends. Vee._

"What a kid." P. Shadow smirked as he put the papers back on his pocket and left.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

After school, at the Green Light House, Zero was training Vee.

"Okay, Vee, show me what you got!" Zero said.

Vee clenched his fists. "Okay, you asked for it!" He said as he ran up to Zero and tried to punch him.

"Nice speed. Pretty good moves too." Zero said as he easily dodged Vee's punches before he tried to knock the kid down with a low kick.

Vee did a back flip to dodge, but as he was landing on his feet, he lost his balance and fell on his back on the training mattress. "Ow... That didn't go as I expected." He said.

"Nice reflexes, but you gotta work on your balance." Zero said helping Vee up.

"I guess so..." Vee rubbed the back of his head smiling a bit.

The gang glanced at them smiling. "Vee's having a lot of fun, huh?" Star asked.

"Yeah, but I think Zero's having even more fun." Pallette giggled.

"Hey, Star, what about that guy, Precursor Shadow?" X asked.

"I gave him his jacket back, but don't ask me if he'll show up." Star replied with a shrug. "That guy's so unpredicable."

As if on a cue, P. Shadow walked into the Green Light House. "I'll take you were talking about me." He said.

"Hey, PS!" Axl grinned. "Glad you could join us."

P. Shadow glanced at Axl smirking. "Keep the nicknames to yourself, kid." He said. "The name's Precursor Shadow and don't you forget it."

Then, Precursor Shadow sat on a nearby table and started playing with his cards.

"Jeez... What's with that guy?" StarZ asked crossing his arms.

"That's the way he is, I guess." Star replied. "He doesn't talk much and we never know when he'll show up, but he'll be always there for us when we need him. That's what I believe."

The group nodded in agreement. Vee, who saw everything from afar, smiled at Precursor Shadow who smirked at him.

Precursor Shadow could be a cocky and mysterious guy, but now the gang believed he was a good person. Even though his attitude was unpredicable, they say him as their friend and, maybe, he felt the same way towards them.

_A/N: PS is character of a friend of mine based on an official Megaman character you guys should find very familiar. Hope you had fun. More things soon to come! _


	8. Chapter 8

_Well, it's been a while. I've been busy at school and my final college admission exams are coming up so I'm gonna be pretty busy for the next days. Luckily, I finished chapter 8 in time (Phew... This one is pretty long.). Asides from a new friend, the gang will be getting their first enemy on this chapter (One very familiar to the Megaman fans.). Have fun! R&R!_

_**Chapter 8: True strenght.**_

It all started with a sparring section at the Green Light House. X and Zero were practicing.

"Okay, X, let's see how ya doing." Zero said getting into a fighting stance. "You ready?"

X took a deep breath. "Let's do this." He replied getting ready.

Zero made the first move. He charged at X and tried a roundhouse kick. X crossed his arms to block the the blow and then he tried to counter with some quick jabs.

"Close one, X." Zero smirked as he easily dodged X's punches. "But not close enough!" He gave X a low kick.

X fell, but he quickly did a back flip to regain his balance. _"Darn it... I feel for that one again..."_ He thought steadying himself.

Vee, Axl, Star and StarZ watched them training. "Wow... X and Zero are awesome!" Vee said in awe.

"True. They're pretty good, but I think X could do better." StarZ said.

"What do ya mean?" Star asked looking at him.

"Think about it: Zero trains both X and Axl. Even though X's usually able to beat Axl, I don't remember seeing him beating Zero" StarZ replied. "It's like he's holding back or something."

"Well, X was never the kind of guy that enjoyed fighting." Axl stated. "He's skilled, that's true, but he only fights for real as the very last resource or to protect someone."

The group suddenly heard a loud thud. Zero had managed to knock X down and immobilize his arms. "Guess that's it." Zero said.

X sighed as Zero let go of him. "Nice one, Zero..."

"C'mon, buddy, you were pretty good today." Zero said helping X up. "Trust me, you're improving."

"I don't know..." X said. "You're always giving me tips, but..."

"But?" Zero asked crossing his arms.

"Nevermind..." X decided. "I guess I just need to keep practicing."

Zero knew X well enough to know that he wasn't in a good mood so he decided to drop the subject. "Suit yourself." He shrugged.

Meanwhile, DMZ and Alpheon were chatting. "So, ninja, what's with the rumors about a biker gang?" DMZ asked.

"I'm not sure." Alpheon replied. "From what I heard, they seem to be patroling the streets every night looking for something or..."

"Someone." Rigel concluded. "I heard that the leader has a score to settle with someone from the martial arts championship."

"Isn't that the championship Zero won last year?" Kazegama asked before looking at Zero. "Better be careful, Zero. You could be the target."

"Hmpf. I don't believe in rumors." Zero said crossing his arms. "And even if those rumors were true, I'd teach those scums a lesson!"

"Well, people would think twice before messing with ya. That's for sure." Vega said. "Then again, street scums were never the brightest people."

"Either way, this does sound rather odd in my opinion." Faust said. "Perhaps we should be cautious for the time being."

"I'm with Faust." Pallette said. "Even though they haven't attacked yet, who knows when those street gangs may attack."

"I agree." Alia said.

"Me too." Layer added. "They can be so unpredicable."

"Better watch your backs." P. Shadow suddenly said as he walked towards the door. "Word has it that those bikers mean business."

"You watch your back too." Zero told him.

Precursor Shadow just smirked and left.

"Vee and I also have to go." Star said getting up. "I still have to write an essay about a book, but I left it at home."

"I'm going with you." DMZ said. "Just in case."

"I'll tag along." Alpheon said.

"Me too." StarZ decided. "We live close to each other anyway."

"The more, the merrier!" Vee said giggling.

"Be careful, everybody." X said. "If you get in trouble, call us."

Star and the others nodded. They all waved good bye and left.

"Well, I guess we should get going too." Rigel said. "It's getting late."

"Yeah. I guess so." Kazegama said.

The others nodded in agreement. They picked their stuff and left the Green Light House without knowing they were in for some surprises.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"So far, so good." Vega said as the group walked down the street. "Guess those rumors were wrong after all."

"Big surprise." Zero said. "Those bikers probably started those rumors to scare off people and they could have the streets empty and race as much as they want."

"Yeah. You're probably right." Faust said before looking at X. "Hey, X. Something on your mind?"

"It's nothing..." X said glancing at the sky. It was a dark night without stars. "For some reason... I have a bad feeling."

"A bad feeling?" Layer asked. "About what, X?"

"I don't know..." X sighed. "It's just a feeling..."

"You worry too much sometimes, X." Axl shrugged as the gang was crossing the street. "Chill out a bit."

"Maybe..." X said. He was the last one to cross the street.

As X was crossing the street, three bikers riding fast motorcycles were quickly approaching. X didn't notice them coming because they had their lights off.

Zero suddenly saw the bikers and gasped: they were going run over X! Then, without a thought but his friend's sake, he acted. "X! LOOK OUT!!!" Zero yelled running towards him.

Before X could do anything, Zero tackled him out of the way just as the bikers zipped past them, barely hitting them!

"X! ZERO!" The others yelled with a gasp.

X landed next to the sidewalk. He was dizzy and slightly stunned. "Ugh... What happened?" He asked himself before finding Zero siting next to him while clutching his shoulder. "Zero!?"

"I'm fine..." Zero winced. He tried to move his arm to show he was okay, but he couldn't. "Okay... That's not good."

X checked Zero's arm. It had a few scratches and something seemed to be wrong with his shoulder. It looked... Dislocated. "Zero..." X looked at him with a gasp. "Your shoulder..."

The others ran up to them. "X! Zero! You two okay?" Alia asked worried.

"I'm okay, but Zero... He dislocated his shoulder." X replied.

The gang glanced at Zero worried. "I'm fine. I just hit my shoulder on the sidewalk." Zero said trying to calm down the gang.

"Don't feing tough, Zero." X said with a stern tone as he took off his jacket and used it as a sling for Zero's arm. "Don't move your arm. It'll only worse your injury."

Vega looked around. "Oh-uh... Those guys are coming back!"

X got up and, with Layer's help, helped Zero up. "Axl, stay here with Zero and the girls." He decided. "Vega, Faust, Kazegama, let's go."

The three teens nodded. Zero tried to argue, but Layer grabbed him by his good arm and dragged him to a nearby alley along with Axl and the other girls.

"Well, look what we have here." One of the bikers said as they stopped in front of the four teens. "Your friend's pretty fast."

"Yeah, otherwise you both'd be pancakes by now." Another biker mocked.

"Spare us from your crap!" Kazegama said clenching his fists. "Why did you attack our friends?!"

"Nothing personal, kids." A third biker shrugged. "Our boss told us to find the champion and give him a message: payback time is coming soon. Be ready."

"You're scaring people and attacked our friends just because of an stupid order?!" Faust asked angry. "I always knew street scum were rotten, but not that despicable!"

"I don't know what you said, twerp, but I didn't like the tone you used!" The first biker growled.

"You started this, punk, not us!" X said ready to fight.

Axl and Pallette watched the whole thing from behind a nearby. "Man, this doesn't look good." Axl gritted his teeth.

"Axl, what should we do?" Pallette asked. "Those bikers seem pretty tough."

Axl growled. He himself didn't know what to do.

"Okay, you brats, you asked for it!" The head biker said as they dashed at X's group ready to ram them with their bikes.

"Too slow, buster!" Vega said as he jumped out of the biker's way. _"Man, at moments like this I'm glad for being a ninja."_ He thought as he kept dodging the biker's attacks.

Not too far from there, Kazegama and Faust ran as another biker raced after them. "You won't get away!" He mocked.

"I do hope you have a plan, my friend." Faust said as he glanced at their pursuer. "He's quickly approaching us!"

"Don't worry. I got that covered." Kazegama said.

Faust took another glancer at the biker: he was gaining on them! He was about to tell that to Kazegama when he realised that the elder teen was gone! "What on earth?!" He gasped as he reached a dead end.

"You friend can't help ya now!" The biker said as he quickly approached.

Faust didn't know what to do. Suddenly, as he was about to get hit, someone grabbed him by his shoulders and picked him up just before the biker ran over him. It was Kazegama. "Didn't I say that I had it covered?" The ninja smirked as he clinged to a nearby wall while holding Faust.

Faust let out a relieved sigh. "Indeed, but you could've told me sooner." He smiled weakly as they landed.

Meanwhile, X was doing his best to dodge as the head biker tried to ran over him. "Give it up, kid!" He mocked. "You can't dodge forever!"

"I don't have to!" X said running towards him. _"Zero told me to use this move when dealing with fast targets." _He thought. _"I've never used it before so I'll have to give it my best shot!"_

As he was about to get hit, X jumped up and spin kicked the punk so hard he lost control of the bike and fell off.

"_I... I did it!"_ X thought as he landed on his feet.

"X!" He suddenly hear Alia yelling. "Behind you!"

X turned around and quickly jumped out of the way as the other two bikers zipped past him and the head honcho hopped on one of the bikes.

"Mark my words: our boss is gonna make mincemeat outta of you all!" He yelled as they sped off.

"Good riddance." Kazegama said dusting off his clothes.

"It's not over yet." Faust said pointing to the out of control bike as it quickly approached them. "Watch out!"

X and the others stepped out of they in time. Soon, the bike crashed into the tree from where Axl and Pallette were watching the battle. "Whoa!" Pallette yelled startled as she fell on her back.

"Pallette, you okay?" Axl asked as he knelt down to help her up.

Suddenly, Zero heard something snapping. He looked up and gasped: one of the biggest an tallest branches of the tree was breaking away due the bike crash and it was gonna fall on Axl and Pallette!

X also noticed that and he tried to warn his younger friends. "Axl! Pallette! Get out of there! Now!"

By the time they heard X, it was too late. With a loud snap, the branch broke off and quickly fell. Everybody gasped.

Too scared to move, Axl brought Pallette close to him and held her in his arms, trying to protect her. They both closed their eyes and waited for the blow, but it never came. Instead, they heard surprised gasps and also some grunting sounds as if someone was holding something really heavy.

Slowly, Axl and Pallette opened their eyes. "Wow..." They said in awe as they found out what had happened.

A teen around seventeen, with fiery, wild blond hair and light hazel eyes had grabbed the branch and held it without any effort. He wore a dark green t-shirt with red stars on the shoulders, grey shorts, white sneakers and a dark green headband around his forehead.

"Hey, you two okay?" The teen asked noticing Axl and Pallette looking at him.

Axl nodded as he and Pallette slowly got up, still holding each other though. "Yeah... We're fine."

"Glad to hear that. Just a sec." The teen turned around and easily threw the branch on a nearby dumpster. "There you go." He dusted off his hands before glancing at Axl and Pallette. "Uh... Are you two gonna stay like that?"

Axl and Pallette glanced at each other. Realising that they were almost hugging, they backed away from each other blushing slightly while the teen chuckled a bit.

X and the others walked up to them. "Axl, Pallette, you two okay?" Layer asked. "You really scared us."

"We're okay." Pallette said. "Thanks to him."

X glanced at the guy. "Thanks a lot for helping out our friends."

"Don't mention it." The teen said before noticing Zero clutching his shoulder as his arm rested on the sling. "You should really have that shoulder checked, Zero. Those bikers are up to no good for sure."

"Huh? How do you know..." Zero said as the mysterious guy walked away. "My name?"

"Who was that guy?" Faust asked.

"Dunno, dude, but I'm sure I've seen him somewhere." Vega replied.

"Yeah. He looked familiar to me too." Rigel added.

"I wonder how that guy knew Zero's name." Kazegama said.

"I'm not sure, but I'll get to the bottom of this!" Zero said before wincing due a sharp pain on his shoulder. "Ugh..."

"You won't get anywhere until your shoulder is properly tended, Zero." Alia said. "Otherwise, your arm might become useless."

"Alia's right." X said. "Let's go to the hospital."

Zero, looking disgruntled, nodded and the group headed to the nearest hospital.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

At an abandoned part of the city, the three bikers who had attacked the gang were gathered with another group of punks.

"You're saying you morons found the guy and his friends made fools outta you?!" The head biker, a tall punk wearing a purple leather jacket, black jeans, booths and a dark purple helmet that kept his wild black hair at bay and often concealed his bright red eyes, roared. "Idiots! Can't ya get a thing right?!"

"D-D-Don't be mad, boss!" One of the bikers said. "That guy dislocated his shoulder while trying to protect one of his friends. He should be an easy match for you now."

An evil grin appeared on the leader's face. "Guess you ain't that useless after all." He said before looking at his other men. "Get ready, everybody! We'll strike tomorrow!"

The punks cheered on that. "You're gonna pay for that humiliation, Zero!" He sneered. "Ya gonna pay..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

_At the Green Light House, on the next day..._

"Okay. No more joking around." DMZ told the gang crossing his arms. He looked impatient.

"What are you talking about?" Axl asked.

"Get serious, Axl." StarZ said. "No one has to be a genius to know that something's up. X and Zero didn't show up at lunchtime, they're not here and whenever someone brings up the matter, you guys keep changing the subject. Needless to say, something happened yesterday and we want to know what it is."

Pallette sighed. "Something did happen last night."

"We didn't tell you guys because Zero asked us to do so." Layer added. "He said he'd rather do it himself."

"But where is he? And X?" Vee asked.

Suddenly, X and Zero walked into the Green Light House. Everybody was surprised to see Zero not wearing his jacket and having his left arm all bandaged up and resting on a sling while X carried his backpack for him.

"Zero?" Star gasped. "What happened?"

"I dislocated my shoulder." Zero replied flatly as he and X sat down.

X sighed. "The reason Zero and I didn't show up for lunch was because we had to go to the infermary to have Zero's bandages changed." He explained.

"Okay, but how did that happen?" Star asked.

The group told them about their run-in with the bikers and the mysterious teen that saved Axl and Pallette.

"Why were those punks after you?" Alpheon asked.

"According to those bikers, their boss ordered them to find the champion and tell him to prepare because payback time was coming." Rigel replied. "I'm not sure, but I think that they meant Zero when they said champion. After all, he did win a championship last year."

"So, the one in charge of those bikers must've lost to Zero during the last martial arts championship." Kazegama pointed out.

"That confirms the rumors of the leader having a score to settle with someone from the championship then." DMZ stated. "He might be trying to get to Zero by threatning people close to him. That could explain why he's making his men patrol the streets at night."

"You might have a point there, DMZ." Zero said with a growl. "When I get my hands on those scums..."

"Zero, take it easy." Layer said. "According to the doctor, it'll take at least two weeks for your shoulder to heal."

"Fine." Zero said as he turned around, sulking.

"Man, talk about a bad mood." Vega said.

"The dislocated shoulder wasn't Zero's only injury." Faust said. "His pride has been injured as well."

"That's my fault..." X sighed. "Zero only got hurt because he tried to protect me... Had I paid more attention to my surroundings, none of this would've happened."

"X..." Alia said.

"Quit blaming yourself, X." Zero said without turning around. "I did what I did because we're friends. You'd do the same in my place. You know that. If my shoulder's like this, it's my own fault, okay?"

"Zero..." X said.

"Hey, about that guy that saved Axl and Pallette..." StarZ started. "Was he really that strong?"

"Yup. He grabbed that huge tree branch and lifted it as if it was a bamboo stick!" Pallette replied. "We didn't get to ask his name though. The weird part was that he knew Zero."

"Really? Hhmmm..." Vee crossed his arms, thinking. "Hey, about that guy... Does he have fiery blond hair, light brown eyes and a green headband?"

Everybody looked at the little kid. "That's him!" Zero said turning around. "How do ya know that, Vee?"

"Easy: he's right over there!" Vee replied pointing to the gym. The unknown teen was there beating up a punching bag.

"Well, that's the guy alright." Axl said.

"Wait. I know him." Alpheon said. "That's Gargantuan."

"Yeah. He's from our class." DMZ added.

"No wonder that dude looked so familiar." Vega said. "Didn't know he was that strong."

"A fighter with the true strenght." Precursor Shadow suddenly said, drawing everybody's atention. "That kind of fighter doesn't show what he's made of that easily."

"What do you know about that guy?" Kazegama asked.

"What do I know? That's a good question." P. Shadow replied with a smirk. "What I know I told you already."

"Do you really have to talk in riddles?" Axl asked annoyed as Precursor Shadow chuckled in response.

"Well, all I know is that he usually works out here after school." Vee said.

"So, he's from our school and he hangs out here... I guess that explains how he knew Zero." Alia said.

"I'm not that sure." Zero said. "I'm sure I've seen him somewhere else before, but I can't figure out where."

"Well, he seems to be a nice person." Star said. "You could ask him some other time."

"Maybe..." Zero said.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Later that day, X and Zero were walking home along with Axl, Alia, Layer and Pallette. "How's your arm, Zero?" Axl asked.

"Fine." Zero replied when he heard a noise. "Huh? What was that?"

"It sounded like someone fighting." Alia replied. "That could mean trouble."

"That's what I thought. Let's go check it out." Zero said running off.

"Zero! Wait!" Layer called in vain.

"Zero never learns, does he?" X asked with a sigh. "C'mon, we'd better follow him."

The group of friends ran after Zero and, a few minutes later, they found him standing in front of an abandoned building site.

Before anyone could ask what was going on, Zero shushed them with a raise of his hand and the he pointed towards the site. The gang became silent as they watched: a rather larger number of bikers were gathered while watching two of them fighting each other.

"Hey, it's those bikers from yesterday!" Pallette whispered.

"That must be their gang then." Axl pointed out. "Looks like they're getting ready for a big fight."

"I really don't like this." Alia said. "This sounds like serious trouble."

"Alia's right." Layer agreed. "They already attacked us yesterday. If we get caught, they'll attack again."

"Let's go." X decided. "Last thing we need is another fight."

The group, even Zero nodded in agreement. Slowly, they started backing away to leave when X accidentaly tripped up on an empty can that was knocked down making a loud noise that drew the atention of every biker in the site. "Darn!" X muttered under his breath.

"It's those kids from yesterday!" One of the bikers yelled.

In no time, X and his friends were surrounded. "Well, well, well... Look what the cat dragged in." The leader mocked as he walked towards Zero. "Long time no see, Zero."

"Huh? Vile?!" Zero said clenching one fist. "So you're the one behind this!"

"How nice... You remember me." Vile laughed glancing at X and Axl. "Still hanging out with those weaklings I see."

"Vile... Now I remember..." X said. "You're the one Zero beat at the championship finals last year!"

"Damn right, twerp!" Vile hissed. "And thanks to him, I've been laughing matter for months! Now it's payback time."

"If you wanted a rematch, you could've just asked." Zero said rolling his eyes. "But I think making your goons do the dirty work for a scum like you is so much easier."

"Always with the brave talk, huh, Zero?" Vile laughed, "I thought my boys could scare you, but I guess the great 'champion' doesn't get scared easily." A smirk. "So, I see you've dislocated your shoulder... What a pity."

"Enough with the PR." Zero growled. "What do ya want?"

"Isn't that obvious? I wanna a rematch!" Vile replied cracking his knuckle. "Right here! Right now!"

Zero narrowed his eyes. With his arm injured like that, he knew he wouldn't be able to fight for real.

"You coward!" Axl yelled. "Now you want to fight Zero 'cause your buddies made him hurt his shoulder!"

"Pide down, half pint!" Vile roared. "This is my area so we play by my rules!" An evil grin. "And to make things more interesting... I have an idea."

Vile snapped his fingers. A group of punks walked up to him, carrying something that looked like a huge battle hammer.

Layer gasped. "That's a weapon from the Hollow War!"

"It's amazing what you can find at old buildings." Vile smirked as he picked up the hammer without making any effort. "This is gonna be fun."

Without warning, Vile lunged at Zero at full speed, ready to smash him to bits. Thinking fast, Zero jumped out of the way as Vile brought down the hammer missing him just a mere inches. _"Damn it..." _ Zero thought. _"This is not good."_

"Zero!" X yelled. He was about to go help him when one of the punks grabbed him. "What the?! Let me go!"

"X!" Zero yelled.

"Sorry, but no interference." Vile said snapping his fingers as the other punks grabbed Axl and the girls.

"Put me down, you jerk!" Pallette yelled trying to break free.

"Leave my friends outta this, Vile!" Zero hissed. "This is our fight!"

"How cute, you're more concerned about you little friends' sake than your own." Vile mocked. "Ain't that touching?"

"Screw what you think, you piece of crap!" Zero yelled lunging at him. "There's no way I'm gonna lose to a scumbag like you!"

With a burst of anger, Zero kicked Vile hard on the gut before using his good arm to punch him on the face. Vile staggered back a bit before falling on one knee clutching his stomach.

"Ugh... Why you?!" Vile roared getting up. "No more playing around, Zero! You're toast!"

Vile lunged at Zero trying to smash again, but he missed. However, he was now striking faster and harder, making it more difficult for Zero to dodge. _"Okay... Better think of something or I'm a goner for sure."_ Zero thought.

X growled as he watched helpless as Zero fought to protect himself. _"Zero needs help..."_ He thought._ "I gotta do something."_

"Whoa!!" Zero suddenly yelled. He had barely dodged a hammer blow, but he lost his balance and fell on his back.

"Now I have you right where I want ya!" Vile laughed as he raised the hammer above his head. "You're finished!"

"NO!" X yelled when his insticts kicked in. He elbowed the punk in the gut who gasped in pain and let go of him. Without wasting time, X lunged at Vile and rammed him as hard as he could into a half destroyed stone pillar.

"X?" Zero called looking surprised to see his best friend looking so angry and ready to fight anyone as he stood in front of him.

"Zero, you okay?" X asked softly as he helped Zero up.

Zero couldn't help but grin a bit. "Yeah. I'm fine." He said. "Thanks, X."

Vile recovered from X's attack and got up. He rubbed his forehead and found a small trickle of blood running down from it. "You!" He roared glaring at X. "Mind your own business!"

"Like I'll listen to a worthless street scum like you!" X said narrowing his eyes as he stood in front of Zero. "If you think I'm gonna stand idly while you try to hurt my friends, you're more idiot than you look!" He clenched his fists. "If you want a fight, bring it on!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Vile laughed clutching his hammer. "Oh well, I'll take you both down!"

"X, get out of here!" Zero told his friend. "This has nothing to do with you! Get going now!"

"No, Zero. I got us into this mess." X said getting into a fighting stance. "And I'm getting us and our friends out!"

"X..." Zero said.

"Any last words before I crush you two to bits?" Vile mocked raising his huge battle hammer.

"How about you shut up?" A voice replied. Outta nowhere, two figures came out and landed in front of Vile, standing between him and X and Zero. At the same time, a small group attacked the bikers, releasing Axl and the girls.

"Alpheon! DMZ!" X and Zero said in unison. Then they glanced at Axl and the girls and found that StarZ and the others were the ones who had saved them.

"Hey, who said you guys could start the party without us?" Alpheon smirked.

"How did you find us?" X asked.

"Precursor Shadow saw you guys in trouble and he contacted us." Star replied. "We came as soon as we could."

"He did that?" Zero asked looking up. Precursor Shadow stood on the top of the unfinished building smirking at the group.

"Didn't see that coming." Axl said.

"Anyway, we're here." DMZ said looking at Vile. "That's the scum behind of the bikers, I suppose."

"You meddler are getting on my nerves!" Vile hissed glaring at his men. "Just don't stand there, idiots! Get them!"

"All right, let's finish this!" X said as the group got ready.

In a matter of minutes, a huge battle broke out.

"Make no prisoners! Take them all out!" Vile ordered.

"Shut up, you big oaf!" Alpheon said as he and DMZ double punched him on the gut, but that didn't make much damage.

"Jeez... You really should lay off the steroids." DMZ said as he and Alpheon dodged a hammer blow.

Meanwhile, Axl, Star and StarZ were busy with a bunch of punks.. "Do you guys always have that knack for trouble?" StarZ asked punching one punk.

"Hey, don't look at me." Axl said kicking another one down. "They started this mess." He dodged another punk's punches and then knocked him down. "Where's Zero?"

"I think he's with X. I asked Vee to find them and... Back off!!!" Star yelled throwing over her shoulder a biker that was trying to sneak up on her. "Man, I hate these guys... Come on, we'd better make sure they're okay."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Alia, Layer and Pallette found themselves facing one really big and strong punk. "Three girls? No fair." He said with a mocking tone. "This will be so fast it won't be any fun at all."

"Don't understimate us, buster." Alia said getting into a defensive stance. "We're tougher than we look."

"Oh yeah? Then prove it!" The giant roared lunging at the trio.

"You asked for it!" Layer said. As the giant approached, she jumped up and kicked him on the chin, making him lose his balance. "Now!"

Alia and Pallette ran up to the punk and knocked him dow with a double kick. "All right!" Pallette cheered jumping up and down. "We did it!"

However the punk was soon back up again. "I think you spoke a bit too soon." Alia said.

"Not bad... For a bunch of girls." The punk mocked rubbing his face. "That actually hurt. Guess I'll have to hurt you girls for real now!"

Suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder. The punk turned around only to be sucker punched on the face by a stranger. "Better think again, hot-shot!" The stranger said as the punk blacked out before glancing at the girls. "You all okay?"

The three girls were suprised to see whot it was. The newcomer just smiled at them. "Looks like you girls and your friends could use some help."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"_Dude, talk about an annoying bunch."_ Vega thought as he fought his way past a group of bikers. "Back off!!" He yelled knocking them down with a spin kick. "Now where are the others?"

A large biker tried to sneak up on Vega, but he was hit on the back of the head by Faust and knocked out. "You really need to watch yourselv, my friend." He said as Vega turned around.

"Thanks, dude." Vega smirked. "Say, where's everybody?"

Before Faust could reply, the punks Vega had previously knocked down got up and surrounded them. "I don't know, but I hope they arrive soon." Faust said ans they backed away from the punks.

As the two frineds were in trouble, P. Shadow watched everything from the to of the old building. "Man, those guys really know how to get in a mess." He said glancing to his left. A small support prevented a pile of barrels from falling off. A smirk. "Hmm... That could work."

With a quick move of his wrist, Precursor Shadow wipped out a card and threw it at the support, knocking it over and unleashing the barrels that fell on the punks knocking them out.

"Whoa..." Vega said before glancing at P. Shadow with a grin. "Yo! PS! Thanks for the help!"

"Just watch your back, okay?" P. Shadow smirked as he landed next to them. "You should go after pals. They need some help."

"Why didn't you say so?" Faust said. "Let's go!"

A few yards from there, Rigel and Kazegama hid behind some old gallons from two bikers. "Where the heck did those brats go?" One of them asked as they walked past the two ninjas' hideout wihtout noticing them.

"I don't know, but if we don't find them, the boss is gonna kill us!" The other said as they ran off.

Slowly, Rigel and Kazegama left their hide out. "Close one..." Kazegama said as he looked around. "The coast is clear, but I don't see Alpheon and the others around here."

"They must be here somewhere." Rigel stated.

As the two teens tried to figure out what to do, Kazegama suddenly felt someone behind him. "Kyah!" He yelled as he spunned arund ready to punch whoever was trying to sneak up on him. However, his fist stopped as few inches from the stranger's face as he found out that it was Vega. "Huh? Vega?"

"Whoa, easy, dude. This is one faced that doesn't deserver to be pummeled." Vega joked. "You two ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Rigel replied as she saw Faust and Precursor Shadow walking up to them. "I'm glad to see you guys."

"Likewise, but some of our friends are still missing." Faust said. "We must regroup before more unwanted guests appear."

"The kid's got a point." P. Shadow said. "Let's roll."

The group nodded and ran off.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

X and Zero had their backs to each other. They were on the look out for more bikers. "I think we're safe for the time being." X said glancing at Zero who was rubbing his injured shoulder. "You okay, Zero?"

"Yeah... Just a bit sore." Zero replied before wincing. "Ow..."

"If you keep pushing yourself too hard, your shoulder'll get worse." X frowned. "We need to find the others and get out of here."

As they were talking, a shadow quickly approached them. When the two realised they were being watched, the shadow landed in front of them, similing. It was Vee. "X! Zero! There you are!" Vee squealed waving his arms.

X and Zero smiled a bit, glad to see the little kid. "Good to see you too, squirt." Zero smirked. "Where are the others?"

Suddenly, the trio heard a loud yell. They turned around and saw Vile being knocked down by and uppercut from DMZ and a low kick from Alpheon. "Had enough?" DMZ asked.

Vile got up. "That didn't even leave a scratch." He hissed before spotting X, Zero and Vee. He grinned and picked up his huge battle hammer. "I've got bigger fishes to catch."

"Oh, really?" A voice suddenly asked. "Maybe I can suit up to your fighting needs, buster."

Everybody looked up as a stranger walked up into the area. Zero and X quickly recognized him. "Gargantuan?" X asked confused. "What's he doing here?"

"He helped us out." Alia replied as she and the others arrived. "He said he had heard the commotion so he decided to investigate."

Vile stared at Gargantuan in complete disbelief. "Gate?!" He yelled. "Why the hell are you helping out those brats?!"

"Gate?" Zero said surprised. "Wait a minute... I've heard that name before..." Finally, it hit him. "No way..."

"The name's Gargantuan." Gargantuan said cracking his knuckles. "I always heard that sore losers were cowards, but I didn't think someone could go as low as you."

"Why, you little?!" Vile roared lunging at the younger teen ready to pummel hims with his hammer. "You're going down!"

"Look out!" X yelled.

Gargantuan just held his ground. When Vile tried to smash him, he simply grabbed the hammer's handle with his bare hands!

"No way!" One of the bikers yelled. "No one's strong lile the boss!"

"I don't think Gargantuan's as strong as Vile." Axl said. "He's way STRONGER!"

No matter how hard Vile tried, he simply couldn't get the hammer back. Gargantuan, on the other hand, didn't seem to be trying too hard to keep his grasp on it. "Argh! You little runt!" Vile yelled furious. "Let go!"

"Hmpf! Talk about a lame fighter." Gargantuan said snatching the hammer away from Vile. "If you have to rely on weapons like this one and cowardly tactics to beat someone, you're more pathetic than you look." With that, he snapped the hammer's handle in two and tossed it away.

Everybody was amazed and shocked by Gargantuan's display of strenght. "Holy crap!" A punk said. "That hammer was made of pure metal and that kid snapped it like a twig!"

"Whoa... That dude IS strong!" Vega said in awe.

"Damn it!" Vile roared. "You're gonna pay for that!"

Taking that as a cue, one of the punks charged at Gargantuan hoping to ambush the younger fighter.

Luckily, X realised wha what he was up to and quickly acted. "Gargantuan!" He yelled. "Behind you!"

Hearing X, Gargantuan turned around just in time to grab the punk's fist before he could hit him. "Gah! What the?!" The punk gasped.

"You asked for it!" Gargantuan yelled. Without warning, he punched the punk so hard on the face it sent him flying. The punk crashed through a wooden fence and landed on a car parked nearby. That made the car's alarms went off.

"Something tells me that's a bad thing." StarZ said.

"Nah, ya think so?" DMZ said as he heard sirens. "Here comes the cops."

"Let's scram!" Vile yelled as he and his gang ran away.

"Hmpf. Always running away when things get rough." Zero said. "That's Vile alright."

"We'd better get going too." Alpheon said. "I don't think the police officers would believe in us about this whole ordeal."

"Let's split up." X decided. "That way we can avoid being ambushed by Vile and his bunch. We'll meetat the Green Light House as soon as possible. Let's go!"

Without wasting time, the group ran away.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

As Zero, X and Star ran, the young girl found that something wasn't right. "Guys, Vee's gone!" She said. "He was here with me a second ago!"

The trio stopped running. "He must've gotten separated from us while running away." Zero stated.

"Star, take Zero and go meet the others. I'll go back to find Vee." X said. "I'll meet up with you later."

Before his friends could argue, X turned around and took off on a swift run. "X..." Star said. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Of course he is." Zero said. "No matter what the odds may be, X can beat them." He added smiling. However, deep inside, he had a bad feeling. _"Take care, buddy."_ He thought before glancing at Star. "Let's go."

Star nodded and they left.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

X hid behind a tree as some bikers ran past him. "Vile's goons are everywhere..." He whispered. "I've gotta find Vee and fast."

After the bikers left, X walked out of his hiding spot and glanced at his PET. "He's around here somewhere..." He put the PET away and looked around. "Vee! Vee, where are you?"

Some fighting noises coming from an alley answered his question. Heading towards the sound, X found Vee facing off a biker that was three times the little kid's size. The young teen gasped. "Vee?!"

"Hold still, you little brat!" The biker yelled trying to grab Vee, but the little kid kept dodging.

"Like I'll listen to some stupid scumface like you! Back off!" Vee yelled. He gave the punk a sommersault kick that hit him on the chin and knocked him into some trash cans, out cold.

X was surprised. Not only with Vee's skill, but with his behaviour as well. At times he didn't act like the little boy he and his friends knew. "Vee?" X called softly as he slowly approached him. "Vee, you okay?"

Vee spunned around with his fists clenched and ready to fight. However, when he saw it was X, Vee smiled and dropped his fighting stance. "X!" He squealed as he threw himself into X's arms. "I'm so glad to see you!"

X couldn't help but smiling at the little boy. "I'm happy to see you too, Vee." He said. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm okay." Vee replied. "While we were running, that big jerk grabbed me and dragged me into this alley. He said something about grabbing one of the champion's friends so his boss could have his revenge."

"Vile... Can't he and his goons get any lower than this?" X growled. "Don't worry, Vee. Everything will be okay."

"What about Star? And the others?" Vee asked.

"They're safe." X replied. "Let's go, they're waiting for us."

Vee nodded with a smile. However, his smile vanished whe he saw a shadow looming over X while holding a huge iron bar.

"Vee? Vee, what's the matter?" X asked as he noticed Vee's sudden worried expression.

As the shadow raised the bar above X's head, Vee gasped. "X! BEHIND YOU!" Vee suddenly yelled.

X quickly turned around. However he wasn't fast enough. All he saw was the bar quickly descending and then a sickening crack was heard as X fell to the ground, wide eyed, with blood dribbling everywhere, staining his jacket and his cap that now lied on the ground.

"X?! X, you okay?" Vee yelled rushing to his side. "X, please, get up!"

Shaking his throobing head, X struggled back to his feet, but the injury took its tool on him. As the shadow neared them, X tried to focus his eyes as the shadow appeared in two.

"HA HA HA! Your concern for your friends will be your downfall, X!" Vile laughed as he walked out of the shadows holding the blood stained bar. "I may not be able to beat Zero, but I'll have the pleasure of taking one of his best friends down!"

"V-Vile... You won't get... away with... this..." X groaned trying to get up, with very little success, though.

"Hah, face it, X, you can't do a thing agaisnt me now!" Vile mocked before spotting Vee standing next to X. "Hmm... I might as well take out this little runt with you."

X narrowed his eyes. He was hurt alright, but that wasn't gonna stop him from protecting his young friend. "You can do... whatever you want with me..." X growled. "But I won't... let you... hurt Vee..."

"X..." Vee whispered before glaring at Vile. "You monster! You're nothing but a sick, no good, spineless coward!"

"Well, what do ya know? The rascal got guts." Vile said amused looking at Vee. "Wanna take me own, twerp?"

"V-Vee... Leave me..." X whispered. "Get out of here..."

"No! I won't leave you, X!" Vee yelled standing in front of X while clenching his fists. "You're my friend, X. I can't leave you behind!"

"Vee..." X groaned. His vision was getting blurry and he was slowly losing conscience. "Please, go..."

"Don't worry. I'll finish you both quickly!" Vile said raising the bar. "Say good night, you brats!"

Vile was about to bring down the bar when someone grabbed it and yanked it off his hands. "HEY!" Vile yelled truning around. "What's the big...?!"

The head biker was cut off by a hard punch on the face that shattered the helmet's visor into pieces. Vile staggered back a bit before he collapsed completely out cold.

"That'll teach ya!" The one who had punched Vile said while rubbing his fist. "Pick someone that can fend for oneself, will ya?"

Vee glanced at his and X's saviour. "Wow..." He said in awe when a soft groan caught his atention. He quickly glanced at X whose bleeding wouldn't stop. "X, hang in there!"

X felt himself getting weaker. His head was spinning and he could only hear muffled sounds while Vee tried to tell him something and the stranger walked up to them. X tried to see who it was, but all he saw was blurs. "Ze-Zero..." He whispered as everything around him faded and he blacked out.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

The gang was gathered in front of the Green Light House where they waited for X, Zero, Star and Vee.

"Where are they?" Axl asked pacing around.

"Easy, Axl." Kazegama said to calm the younger teen. "I know the others will arrive here anytime soon."

As Kazegama finished his sentence, StarZ spotted someone approaching them. "Hey, here they come!" He said.

Star and Zero arrived. "Are you two okay?" Layer asked.

"Yeah, no problems." Zero replied. "What about you guys?"

"Asides from an ocasional scracth, we're fine." DMZ replied.

Star looked around. Someone was missing. "Where are X and Vee?"

The gang exchanged glances. "They haven't arrived yet." Alia replied. "We thought they were with you."

Zero frowned. "Vee got separated from us so while we were running away." He said. "X went back to find him."

"Shouldn't them be here by now?" Faust asked.

"Maybe they're hiding, dudes." Vega suggested. "That area is probably infested with bikers so it must be pretty dangerous even with the cops around."

Star picked her PET and pressed a few buttons. "I've got a bad feeling about this.X, Vee, it's me, Star. Can you hear me?" She called hoping to get an answer, but there was none. "X, Vee, can you hear me? Please respond." She called once again and there was no answer. She glanced at the others worried. "No good... I can't contact them."

Rigel checked her PET. "And they're out of the tracking range too..." She said with a frown. "Where could they be?"

"There's just one way to find out." Alpheon said. "I'm going back to find them."

"It's too dangerous, Alpheon." Pallette said. "Those bikers could still be around the area."

"Don't worry about me." Alpheon smirked. "I'm a ninja, you know. They won't spot me that easily."

"Still, it's kinda crazy going there on your own." Kazegama said while Vega and Rigel nodded in agreement. "We can join ya if you want."

Alpheon thought for an instant. "Guess you're right. Let's move out, ninjas!" He said before looking at Zero. "If we find any sign of them, we'll contact you asap."

Zero nodded. The four ninjas climbed a nearby fire stairway and started running across the rooftops. In a matter of seconds, they were gone.

"This is a waste of time." Precursor Shadow said with a shrug.

Axl glared at him. "How can you say that at a time like this?!" He asked angry. "Don't you care about X or Vee?"

"Don't get me wrong, kiddo. I just think that going back won't do any good." P. Shadow said walking away.

"And what do ya suggest us to do?!" StarZ asked crossing his arms. "Sit here and hope they return?!"

P. Shadow stopped walking. "If you really wanna a suggestion, go look somewhere else." He said without turning around. "It's really up to you." With that, he left.

"Why, the nerve of that guy!" Axl growled. He was about to run after P. Shadow when an arm in front of him stopped him. It was DMZ. "Huh? DMZ?"

"Take it easy." DMZ said. "That guy has his own way to deal with things. What he says may not make sense at first, but he's been known to know more than he's telling."

Faust crossed his arms, looking thoughtful. "If going back won't help us find X and Vee... That could mean that something serious must've happened with them!" He concluded. "Something that made them head somewhere else instead of meeting us here."

Everybody glanced at the young musician. "Precursor Shadow probably knew that and for that reason he left." Alia stated before sighing. "X and Vee could be anywhere..."

DMZ started walking away. "Well, no use staying here." He said. "I'll take a look around the area."

StarZ and Faust glanced at each other and nodded. "We'll tag along." StarZ decided. "We'll have better chances that way."

DMZ nodded and the trio left.

"Should we head out too?" Layer asked.

Zero clenched one fist. "I'm going after them." He said. "You guys wait here in case they show up."

Zero was about to leave when Axl placed a hand on his shoulder. "Zero, you can't go alone." He said. "What if you ran into trouble? You won't be able to fight with your arm like that."

Zero growled. He didn't want to admit, but he knew Axl was right. Still, he couldn't simply sit around knowing that two of his closest friends were missing and they could be in trouble.

"Zero, I understand that how you must be feeling." Star said. "I know you're worried about X and Vee, but that's no excuse for heading out on your own and getting yourself into trouble."

"Star..." Zero said looking at her.

Star gave her friend the warmest smile. "Let's go together, guys. If we're gonna get in trouble, we might as well get in trouble together. Besides, sitting here won't do us any good."

The group nodded in agreement. Zero smiled weakly. "Thanks, Star." He said. "Let's go!"

The six friends left.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Pain... That was the first thing X felt when he woke up. His head hurt so much it felt like was gonna explode. Also he felt sick, as if his stomach had been turned upside down.

Slowly, X opened his eyes. At first, his vision was blurry, but it became clearer after X blinked a few times and the young teen found himself resting on someone's bed. "Huh? Where am I?" X whispered to himself before groaning. "Ugh... My head... What happened with me?"

X tried to recall what had happened, but he couldn't focus due the pain. "Gah... It hurts too much even to think straight..." He sighed. "Why can't I remember what happened?"

The young teen slowly managed to get himself into a sitting position though a wave of dizziness hit him, making him feel sick. "Argh..." X clutched his head in pain.

After his dizziness stopped, X scanned his surroundings. He was at a small bedroom. Glancing at himself, X found out that he was wearing only his white t-shirt and his jeans. Rubbing his head, he found some bandages wrapped around it. He winced when he touched a wounded spot of his forehead though.

"Ow... Now I know why my head hurts so much..." X said glancing at the window. Not knowing where he was and being unable to remember what had happened made him feel uneasy. "I can't stay here... I don't know why, but I have to get out of here."

X slowly got off the bed. His legs woobled a bit so he had to rest his back against the wall before moving on. With every step he took, stronger waves of nausea hit him and he felt dizzier. Despite that, X kept moving. However, when he was almost at the door, a really strong wave of dizziness hit him making X lose his balance and collapse.

As that happened, the door opened. "What are you doing?!" X heard someone gasping as he suddenly stopped falling. "You musn't stand! You're injured!"

X felt himself being lifted by someone who carried him and placed him back on the bed. X held his head, groaning a bit. He felt like the entire room was spinning.

"The blow was harder than I thought." The person told X. "Maybe you should lie down a bit, X."

After X's head stopped spinning, he was able to look at the person that had helped him. When he did so, he was surprised to see who it was. "Gargantuan?"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Alpheon sighed as he and the other ninjas landed on a rooftop. They were back at the battle site, but there was no sign of X or Vee. "This is gonna be harder than I thought." He said. "Any luck, guys?"

"Dude, those bikers are everywhere!" Vega replied as he looked on the alley below them. Several bikers ran around the area. "They seem to be looking for something, but I don't see our friends around here."

Rigel glanced at her PET. "And there's no sign of them on the PET either." She frowned. "I'm getting worried..."

Kazegama was about to speak up when somehitng caught his attention. "Hey, guys, check this out!" He said.

The four friends watched as a group of bikers ran down the streets carrying an unconcious guy with them. One the gang knew too well. "Hey, it's the bikers' leader, Vile!" Vega pointed out. "What happened with him?"

"Looks like someone taught him a good lesson." Kazegama replied. "The helmet's got a broken visor and Vile's got a broken nose. It's even bleeding a bit." Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, you guys think X got into a fight with Vile?"

"There's no way X could've done that damage. It's just not like him." Alpheon replied crossing his arms. "Then again..."

"Right now, that is not important, guys." Rigel said. "We still don't know where they are..."

"She's got a point, dude." Vega said, "If they're not here, they must be at somewhere else, but where?"

"We won't find out if we just stand here." Kazegama replied.

Alpheon nodded. "Point taken." He said. "Let's go, ninjas!"

The four ninjas kept searching.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

X couldn't help but being surprised. _"I must be at Gargantuan's house."_ He thought. _"But how did I get here?"_

"Hey, X, you okay?" Gargantuan asked noticing the young teen's confused look. "You seem awfully…out there."

X tried to reply, but his head started hurting again. "Argh..." He groaned clutching his head.

"That answers my question." Gargantuan crossed his arms. "Actually, I'm surprised to see you awake so soon. I mean, you got a serious concussion and..."

"A concussion?" X glanced at him confused. "What happened?"

"All in due time." Gargantuan replied. "First, I need you to tell me what you do remember."

X frowned, but nodded. "Well... Last thing I remember was talking with Vee and..." He gasped. "Vee! Where's he? Is he okay?"

Suddenly, the door opened and Vee walked into the room. "You're awake!" He squealed happy. "You okay, X?"

X let out a relieved sigh before smiling weakly. "I am now, Vee." He said patting the little tyke on the head.

"I'll take you remembered everything." Gargantuan stated.

X glanced at him and nodded. "Yeah... Everything's coming back." He said. "Me and my friends got into a fight with Vile and his bikers... You helped us out... When Vee and I were trying to leave the area, Vile ambushed us... He hit me and... Last thing I remember was seeing someone punching him and then everything went black..." A pause. "That was you, wasn't it?"

Gargantuan nodded with a small smirk. "Yep. That was me." He replied. "Well, your memory seems to be working fine which means there was no internal damage. You might have one nasty headache, though."

"Tell me about it..." X sighed rubbing his head. "By the way, Gargantuan, I didn't get to thank you for helping me and Vee out. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Gargantuan said smiling. "So, asides from the headache, how ya feeling, X?"

"Honestly, I feel kinda sick and weak..." X replied. "I can barely move my limbs and my head feels light..."

Vee looked at Gargantuan with a worried look. "That isn't a good sign, is it?" He asked.

"Don't worry. It's not that serious." Gargantuan replied as he picked two pillows that were lying on the groud before placing them on the bed so X could rest his back on them. "Confusion, nausea, tiredness, weakness... Those are common symptons of a concussion. All X needs is a good rest and he'll get better soon."

"Wow... You're so smart, Gargantuan!" Vee said amazed. "How do ya know so much?"

Gargantuan was silent at first. "Well... You're bound to learn a thing or two when you spend nearly your whole life as a street fighter." He finally replied.

Both X and Vee were surprised. "A street fighter?" They said in unison.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

StarZ, along with DMZ and Faust, was in front of the school. The trio had no idea of where their friends could be. "Any sign of them on the PET, Faust?" He asked.

"I'm afraid not." Faust frowned. "I'm not picking any reading from their PETs or I'm able to contact them."

DMZ crossed his arms. "Something's up." He said. "Knowing X, by now he would've at least contacted us. Specially if Vee was with him."

"Do you think something happened with him?" Faust asked.

"Well, my guess on what could've happened is that X could've been ambushed by Vile's goons while looking for Vee." StarZ replied. "But if that was the case, Vee would've met us at the meeting spot... We're missing something here."

"Nice grasp of the obvious, kid." Precursor Shadow said walking up to them with a smirk. "That's some progress."

"Okay, wise guy, and what did you find?" StarZ asked annoyed.

"Me? Well... I found a little something." P. Shadow said dropping his smirk. "But I don't think you'd want to see it."

"Knock it off and show us already." DMZ said looking impatient.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Precursor Shadow said showing them what he had found.

The three friends gasped. P. Shadow had showed the a blood stained, sky blue cap. "By Jove..." Faust said with a trembling voice. "That hat... It belongs to X!"

"Where did you find this?" DMZ asked.

"Near the subway station." P. Shadow replied. "It was being carried away by the wind."

"The subway? But that's like ten blocks from where we last saw X." StarZ pointed out. "The wind's not strong enough to carry it that far."

"I'm starting to think your whole 'X being ambushed' theory might be right." DMZ said looking at Precursor Shadow. "Any signs of Vee?"

"Negative. All I found was X's cap." P. Shadow replied. "However, I did see some punks running around the place saying something about their boss being beaten up really badly."

"Someone beat Vile up?" Faust asked confused. "Who?"

"Meh, don't ask me." Precursor Shadow shrugged. "That's all what I heard."

StarZ raised an eyebrow. "You guys think X had something to do with that?" He asked.

"This doesn't look like X's doing..." DMZ replied. "Even if it was to protect someone, he wouldn't go that far."

"We're missing some pieces of this puzzle." Faust sighed. "In order to find our friends' whereabouts, we need to figure that mystery out."

"So, now what?" Precursor Shadow asked.

Suddenly, DMZ's PET started beeping. He picked it up and glanced at the monitor. "It's an e-mail from Star." He said before he started reading the message. "Alpheon's group and ours haven't found them yet. What about you guys? By the way, Zero asked me to tell you guys to meet us at his place by nightfall if you don't find them. Star."

"Looks like the others' luck is as bad as ours." StarZ said.

"Should we report to Zero what we have uncovered?" Faust asked.

"Hhmmm... No. At least, not yet." DMZ replied. "The girls would probably freak out if we told them we found X's cap stained with blood. Let's keep looking. We still have some time."

"That works for me." P. Shadow shrugged.

Faust and StarZ nodded in agreement and the group left.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Gargantuan sighed. He kinda expected X and Vee's reaction. "Guess you two didn't expect that, huh?" He scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I guess so." X replied. "There hasn't been many records of street fighters since the end of the Hollow War."

"In a way, you're right." Gargantuan said as he pulled out a chair and sat down. "Better sit down. This is gonna be a long story." A short breath. "Have you ever heard about a man named Gate?"

Looking confused, Vee shook his head before he sat at the edge of the bed.

"Wait. I think I have." X said. "He was one of the most brilliant scientists before the war, but when it broke out, he became one of the most powerful warriors that ever fought on it."

"Cool..." Vee said. "Hey, now I remember. Vile called you Gate when you showed up to help us. Why?"

"That's because... We have quite a lot in common." Gargantuan replied earning some odd looks from the younger boys. "I'll explain: most people don't know, but Gate changed his own body in order to become a fighting machine. After the war was over, he became a legend as the unbeatable street fighter." A sigh. "That is, until he was captured by some former henchmen of Sigma that survived the battle. They planned to carry on thei master's legacy using Gate's DNA."

X gasped. He knew where Gargantuan was getting at. "They... They planned to to create an army of super soldiers using his DNA?!"

Gargantuan nodded. "You catch things pretty quickly." He said. "Anyway, that's right. They used Gate as a lab subject and copied his DNA hoping to create the ultimate soldiers and, after they got what they wanted... They disposed of him."

"That's... That's awful..." Vee said. "Wait, but if they got rid of Gate and he was the only one that knew how to change one's body, how could they create an army of super men?"

"That's the point..." Gargantuan said as his expression grew darker. "They didn't use men on their experiments..."

X stared at Gargantuan, shocked. "So, you're saying... That the reason to why you're so strong is because..."

"They experimented on newly born orphans..." Gargantuan said looking away. "Since a baby's body is fragile and it's still developing itself, they assumed it'd be easier to change it. They injected the babies with some liquid that contained Gate's DNA and that slowly changed their body structure." A sigh. "I was one of those babies and the only one that survived their experiments... Luckily, the authorities found out their plans and all people involved were arrested. As for me, I was sent to an orphanage so I'd grew up like a normal kid."

A long silence fell over them. X didn't know what to say. Gargantuan had just saved his and Vee's lifes and now he was telling them his story regardless of how painful it was. "Gargantuan..." He whispered. "I'm sorry..."

Vee said nothing. With a sob he hugged the elder teen.

Gargantuan smiled weakly as he patted Vee's head. "It's okay, guys..." He said looking at X. "No matter how painful a memory may be, we can always find the strenght to move on. That's what I believe."

X slowly nodded. "So... How did you find this out?"

"Well... As you might have noticed, I'm a lot stronger than your average 17-year-old guy. And it's been like that since I was a little squirt like Vee." Gargantuan replied. "Because of my strenght, most kids at the orphanage were afraid that I could hurt them, even unintentionally, so they'd stay away from me. When I turned twelve, the orphanage caretaker gave me and old book containing notes about Gate, the experiments and their effects on my body. He said that, if I understood why I was so strong, I would be able to control my strenght and make good use of it."

"So, you became a street fighter in order to hone your skills and become a true warrior like Gate?" X asked.

"Basically, yeah." Gargantuan replied. "I figured that becoming like him was the best way to control my strenght. I got int several fights and faced all kinds of opponents: robbers, bikers, martial artists and even gang leaders that fought back in the Hollow War. Due my victories, I guess you can say I gained quite a reputation in the city underworld."

"And that's how Vile knew you?" Vee asked.

"Yeah. More than once, street gangs faced me trying to force me to join them, but I'd always refuse so they'd face me in a battle. Of course, I'd always beat them up." Gargantuan answered. "In no time, I've become known as the new Gate, the street fighter. But, no matter how many times I won, no matter how many opponents I beat, I simply couldn't unleash my true potential. The random fights I used to pick made no more sense to me, but I only realised that after fighting two guys."

"Who are they?" X asked.

"One is a kid around your age, X." Gargantuan replied. "We bumped into each other one day. I was in a bad mood, so we ended up fighting." A chuckle. "We fought so far and for so long that we both fell down exhausted. In the end, we called it a draw and became good friends."

"Cool!" Vee said. "And who is the other one?"

"You two know him better than me." Gargantuan smirked a bit. "The other one is your good friend... Zero."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Zero, Axl and the girls walked down the street. They were heading to Zero and Axl's places to meet up with the others. The sun was setting and they still had no idea of X and Vee's whereabouts.

"Damn it!" Zero suddenly hissed as he brought up his good arm and punched a nearby wall. "This is all my fault... I knew I shouldn't have let him go alone!"

The others turned around. "Don't beat yourself up about it, Zero." Layer said. "You know X better than any of us: if a friend's in trouble he won't hesitate in facing danger alone to help."

"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that I was the one who got us into a fight with Vile and his goons." Zero said looking away.

"If there's anyone to blame here, that's Vile and his bunch, Zero." Axl crossed his arms. "They started this mess. We didn't."

Zero remained silent. Anyone that knew him could tell he was worried. Along with Axl, X had been Zero's best friend eversince he could remember so it was natural that he felt responsable for them. As for Vee, everybody felt responsable for the kid of the group and Zero was no exception.

"I know things doesn't look good, guys, but we can't give up." Star said. "I'm sure X and Vee are safe and..." A sudden beep from her PET cut her off. "Huh? It must be DMZ!"

Star picked her PET as the others gathered around her. "Yup. It's DMZ's reply." She said before reading the message. "So far we haven't found them, but we found something that might help us. We'll call you if we find them. Otherwise, we'll meet you by nightfall. DMZ."

"I wonder what DMZ's group found." Pallette said.

"I'm not sure." Alia said. "It's strange that he didn't say what they'd found."

"I think DMZ wants to make sure that whatever they found will be of any real help." Star said glancing at her PET. "Hey, there's another message here."

"From who?" Axl asked.

"It's from the City Communication Department." Star replied. "It says here that the communication between PETs might not be working properly. The East Sector Server had to be temporarly shut down for maintence."

"East Sector? That's where we were when this whole thing started." Layer said. "That explains why we can't contact X or track him donw. The tracking program requires data from all four city servers to work. Without them, the program is useless."

"That makes sense, but I think we're missing something else here." Pallette said. "Something important."

Zero suddenly remembered. "Gargantuan..."

The group stared at him. "What about him?" Star asked.

"Wait, now that you mentioned it, we haven't seen him since we split up after that whole mess." Alia said.

"Hey, that reminds me. I saw him running back to the battle site after we split up." Axl said. "He looked worried about something."

"Okay... That's weird and all, but it doesn't help us much now..." Star sighed. "It's getting dark. The others must be waiting for us."

The group nodded and walked away. _"It's too much of a coincidence that he vanished right after those two did."_ Zero thought as he followed the others. _"If Gargantuan is who I think he really is, then there's more about this whole story than it seems."_

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"You gotta be kidding!" Vee said surprised. "You're saying you and Zero fought before?"

"Yep. You heard it right." Gargantuan replied looking at X. "You probably remember that match, don't you, X?"

"That's it..." X said. "Now I know why Zero thought you two had met before... It was at the last championship."

Gargantuan nodded. "That's right." He said. "That happened a while after I met that friend of mine. I entered the tournament to test my skills. I easily made it to the semi finals when I faced Zero." A grin. "Talk about a fight."

_**Flashback.**_

Gargantuan stretched his arms. So far, hed had faced just weaklings. "Man, this is a waste of time." He said to himself. "Bet the next match will be as short as the last ones."

"Would you like to make a bet on that statement?" A voice asked.

Gargantuan turned around. Zero stood a few feet from him with his arms crossed while looking at him. "You're Zero, right?" Gargantuan asked looking at him. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to meet ya before the match." Zero replied walking up to him. "After all, it's not everyday I get to meet the legendary street fighter in person. Isn't right, Gate?"

Gargantuan blinked surprised. "How do you know who I am?"

"The background doesn't lie." Zero said. "Your fighting style, knuckles wrapped in bandages and clothes full of thorns... It wasn't hard to put two and two together."

Gargantuan chuckled. "Well, you're quite the detective." He said. "Anyway, Gate is just a nickname. My real name's Gargantuan."

"So, you could've just used your alias to sign up." Zero said. "You have quite a rep, you know."

"True, but if I did that, I bet all the other fighters would chicken out before the matches started." Gargantuan smirked.

Zero smirked. "Most people would, but not me." He said. "I'm not the kind of guy that refuses a good challenge."

"Heh, confident, aren't ya?" Gargantuan said amused. "Well, I just hope you're as skilled as you're streetwise."

"Trust me, you won't get dissapointed." Zero said when he heard someone calling him. "My friends are calling me. See you at the arena."

Gargantuan watched as Zero walked towards X and Axl. _"Those two are even younger than me."_ He thought. _"That Zero guy is unusual."_A smirk. _"This will be good, after all."_

A few minutes later, Zero and Gargantuan stood at the main arena, ready to face each other. X and Axl were at the stands, cheering for their blond friend.

"Go for it, Zero!" Axl cheered.

"You can do it!" X added.

Gargantuan smirked. "You got quite a fan club, huh, Zero?"

"Whatever." Zero said assuming a fighting stance. "You ready?"

"You bet!" Gargantuan said doing the same. "Let's do this!"

The referee stood between both teens. "Ladies and gentlemen, the semi final round is about to start!" He said as the crowd went wild. "Let the fight begin!"

As soon as the referee was out of the way, Zero and Gargantuan charged at each other with their fists clenched.

"YAH!" They yelled in unison as they threw simultaneous punches at each other. When they fists collided, the impact sent both teens staggering backwards.

"_Whoa...He packs quite a punch."_ Gargantuan thought steadying himself. _"That was the first time someone paired an attack of mine like that."_

Quickly, Gargantuan ducked to dodge a roundhouse kick from Zero. "Close, but not close enough!" He smirked as he took the opportunity to grab Zero's leg and lift him in the air.

Thinking fast, Zero spinned in the air to land back on his feet. Without wasting time, he counter attacked with quick jabs.

Gargantuan quickly attacked with fast blows as well to counter Zero's. Each time he managed to hit the blond teen, Gargantuan was hit as well. _"Man, that guy means business."_ Gargantuan thought as he tried to dodge some punches before smirking a bit. _"Time to get serious!"_

Without warning, Gargantuan threw a punch with all his might. Zero, realising he wouldn't be able to block that, did a backflip and avoided being hit by a few inches. However, Gargantuan's fist hit the ground covering the arena with cracks!

The whole crowd watched, wide-eyed and mouth-opened, as Gargantuan got up and faced Zero again. The blond teen seemed rather surprised. "Impressed, Zero?" He smirked.

"Kinda." Zero smirked back at him. "Knew you were strong, but not that much." He got into an attacking stance. "But it'll take more than that to beat me."

Gargantuan narrowed his eyes. _"How can he stay so darn calm?"_ He thought panting a bit. _"I used nearly all my strenght on that last blow... I gotta finish this, right here, right now!"_ He clenched his fist. "Okay, Zero, this ends now!" He yelled charging at him.

"Bring it on!" Zero said doing the same.

As both teens approached each other, they tried to punch each other once again. However, unlike the previous time, their fists didn't collide. Instead, they hit each other's faces at the same time!

The whole crowd became slient as everyone watched in awe as both teens stood still. One's fist reamained on the other's face. At first, it seemed that one's blow didn't affect the other as both teens stood there without even moving an inch.

"X, what's going on?" Axl asked looking confused.

"I... I don't know, Axl." X replied. He looked confused as well.

Finally, after what it felt like an eternity, something happened. At the same time, Zero and Gargantuan smirked at each other as they slowly lowered their fists. No one knew what was going on until both teens staggered backwards. Suddenly, Gargantuan collapsed on his back while Zero placed his hands on his knees to keep his balance. Both teens were breathing heavily.

"Gargantuan's unable to battle!" The referee said looking to Zero. "The winner is Zero!"

The crowd went wild. "Zero!" X and Axl yelled in unison before they leapt from the stands and rushed to the arena.

Zero panted trying to catch his breath when he heard laughter. Glancing to his side, he found Gargantuan, still lying on the ground. His eyes were closed and he was smiling. "Heh... I've never had a match like that..." He chuckled looking at Zero. "That was pretty fun, wasn't it Zero?"

Zero grinned a bit before he held out his hand to Gargantuan. "You okay?"

Gargantuan grabbed Zero's hand and got up with his help. "It's kinda weird." He smiled. "I lost, yet I feel like I had won. That match was great."

"I'll say." Zero smirked. "You nearly got me several times back there, buddy. I have to admit I'm impressed."

"You impressed me too." Gargantuan said. "I never thought a guy that hangs out with kids could be a better fighter than all the street fighters I faced and, trust me, I faced a lot of those."

"Actually, it's because of them I'm strong." Zero said as Gargantuan gave him an odd look. "X and Axl have been my friends for a long time and we've been through a lot together. By trying to protect them, I found my true strenght."

"Your true strenght?" Gargantuan asked.

"A reason to fight. A reason to give it all I've got in battle to win." Zero explained. "It's what allows you to unlock your true potential."

"Unlock my true potential, huh?" Gargantuan crossed his arms. "I've been getting myself in all kinds of brawls to find my true power, but I didn't have much luck so far. How did ya do it?"

"Sorry, but that's something you have to figure out on your own." Zero said. "It took me a while to find it too."

"Guess so..." Gargantuan sighed.

"Hey, I'm sure you'll find it." Zero said. "Tell ya what, let's make a deal: when ya find your true strenght, let's have a rematch. It'd be an honor to fight ya again."

"Sure! It's a deal!" Gargantuan smiled as they shook hands. "I'll beat ya next time we face each other."

"Yeah, right." Zero chuckled. "I'll be waiting."

Their conversation was interrupted by X and Axl's arrival. "Zero! That was awesome!" Axl said as he and X stood outside the arena. "I've never seen a match like that!"

"Yeah, you were great!" X praised him.

Zero just smirked at his two friends while Gargantuan glanced at them. _"He became stronger to protect them..."_ He thought before he started walking away.

"Gargantuan?" Zero called as he noticed Gargantuan leaving.

"Your next match should be with Vile." Gargantuan said as he kept walking. "I know you'll do fine, but stay alert. That guy tends to fight dirty when he's losing."

Zero nodded. "Got it. Thanks for the tip."

Gargantuan just glanced at him with a grin before he gave him a thumbs up and walked away.

_**End Flashback.**_

"And that's what happened." Gargantuan said.

"Wow... From what you said, you and Zero must've had one heck of a fight!" Vee said in awe.

"You can say that again." Gargantuan chuckled. "After that fight, I started training on my own and stopped picking random street fights. By fighting Zero, I learned that the true strenght can't be gained by beating up anyone that crossed my path."

X chuckled. "That's Zero alright. You can always learn a thing or two with him." He said. "He once told me that not even when he won the championship he had an intense match like the one when he faced you."

"Heh, no wonder. I saw that match." Gargantuan said. "Zero wipped the floor with Vile that day. In fact, if Zero hadn't dislocated his shoulder, he would've beaten Vile up again."

X frowned at that. "X? What's wrong?" Vee asked looking at him.

"Zero wouldn't have dislocated his shoulder... If I had been able to stand up for myself." X sighed. "And I wouldn't have gotten this head injury either... I was an easy target..."

"X..." Vee said.

"I'm not strong enough..." X said looking away. "Although Zero trained me and Axl, I'm not as good as them... I never liked fighting..."

"Just because you don't like using your strenght doesn't mean ya don't have it, X." Gargantuan said. "You were willing to take Vile on a one-on-one fight to protect Zero and the others. Not to mention you headed out all by yourself to find Vee. It takes a lot of strenght to fight against the odds, but it takes even more strenght to stand up for others like the way you did for your friends."

X stared at him, surprised. "Gargantuan..."

"If there's one thing I learned from Zero is that the true strenght doesn't come from the body." Gargantuan said. "It comes from the heart."

"That makes sense." Vee said. "You're strong 'cause you have a big heart!"

"Thanks, Vee." Gargantuan chuckled patting Vee on the head. "You're one of the very few people that is not afraid of me because of my strenght."

"How could I fear someone so kind and cool that saved me and X?" Vee shrugged. "I'd rather be friends with you."

X and Gargantuan couldn't help but laugh at Vee's naive, yet honest, statement. "Heh, you're unique, Vee." Gargantuan said

"Thanks... I think." Vee said before glancing at the window. "Hey, it's getting dark."

"Dark? I was asleep for that long?" X gasped a bit. "Zero and the others must really worried about us."

"Yeah... We tried to call them while you were resting, but my PET didn't work." Vee said.

"With one of the city servers down for maintence, communication around this area has been pretty bad." Gargantuan added.

"I see..." X glanced at Vee. "We need to find them." He tried to get up, but his head started hurting again. "Argh..."

"X, please, don't stand!" Vee said worried. "You're still hurt!"

"I'm okay..." X whispered as his head stopped aching.

"Clearly your not, X." Gargantuan crossed his arms. "You've been up for a long time. You need to rest."

"I can't..." X said. "I can't just sit around while all my friends are probably worried about me."

"Really, X, do you think you can find them in your condition?" Gargantuan asked. "You can barely stand, let alone walk ten blocks at night with a little kid. Not to mention that Vile's bunch could still be around here somewhere."

X sighed. "You're right, but..."

"Hey, I understand." Gargantuan smiled. "You two are also worried about Zero and the others, right?"

X and Vee nodded. "Yeah... I really hope they're safe." Vee said.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Gargantuan said. "Don't worry. Leave everything to me."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

The gang was gathered in front of Zero and Axl's place. Night had falled and the group didn't know what to do next.

"So no one found anything?" Axl asked.

"Well, PS found something." StarZ replied. "But... We don't know if we should show you..."

"If it may help us find X and Vee we should know what it is." Layer said.

"Okay, but I'm warning ya, this is not gonna be pretty." Precursor Shadow said before he showed them the blood stained cap.

Everybody stared, shocked. "It's... It's X's cap!" Alia gasped as she took the cap from PS's hands. She was at the verge of tears. "No... X..."

Layer embraced Alia to confort her while Pallette glanced at DMZ. "Whe... Where did you find this?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"Precursor Shadow found it near the subway." DMZ replied. "Unfortunately, there was no sign of Vee."

Star looked away. She was worried sick about Vee, but she believed that, as long as the little tyke was with X, he'd be safe. Now that she knew that something bad had happened with X, she was getting even more concerned about her friends' safety.

"Guys, this is getting really serious." Rigel said. "We should call the police or at least ask Mr. Signas for advice."

"I think Rigel's right." Kazegama said. "We searched the entire city and nothing."

"I know what ya mean, dude, but if X got into trouble with some street punk, calling the cops could make things worse." Vega said.

"Indeed. This is a rather delicate situation." Faust said.

Zero rested his back against the building. He was both worried about X being injured and angry with himself for letting that happen. Suddenly he felt an hand on his shoulder. It was Alpheon. "We'll keep searching." He said. "I won't rest until they're both safe."

The others nodded in agreement. StarZ was about to say something when he heard quick footsteps heading towards him. Next thing he knew someone had jumped on his back while wrapping his arms around his neck. "GAH!" StarZ yelled nearly falling backwards. "What gives!?"

"StarZ!" A little voice squealed. "I found ya! I found ya!"

StarZ knew that voice and so did the others. He turned his face to see the newcomer and he grinned. "Hey, Vee!"

The gang smiled. It was the little kid. Very relieved, everybody gathered around Vee who was really happy to see them as well. "I'm so happy you guys are safe." He smiled. "I was worried about you."

"You were worried about us?" Kazegama chuckled. "You little rascal, we were the ones worried about ya."

"Sorry... Didn't mean to cause all that trouble." Vee said.

Star just smiled before taking Vee from StarZ. "I know you didn't. I'm just happy that you're safe." She said hugging him.

Zero glanced at Vee with a little smile. Knowing that the little kid was safe had calmed him a bit, but he was still worried about X. Suddenly, he noticed something curious about Vee: he was carrying on his back a large sky blue backpack. A very familiar one. "Wait a minute." He said. "Vee, what are you doing with X's bag?"

Everybody glanced at the little tyke. Zero was right. Vee frowned as Star put him down. "I'm carrying it for him." He replied. "After what happened, he won't be able to carry anything heavy for a while."

"Is he okay?" Alia asked. She looked really worried.

"And where is he?" Axl asked.

Before Vee could reply, a familiar voice did it for him. "Hey, no worries, everybody!" It said. "X's safe and sound."

The gang turned around as Gargantuan walked up to them while carrying someone on his back. Finally, when he stopped next to them, Zero and the others could see who it was. Everybody, except for Vee, gasped surprised. "X!" They nearly yelled.

"Hey, keep it down!" Gargantuan said. "He's sleeping, ya know."

Taking a better glance at X, the gang found that Gargantuan was right. X was fast asleep with a peaceful look on his face.

"My, X looks exhausted." Faust stated.

"Well, he went through a lot today." Gargantuan said.

"Man, he's got a lot of bandages on his head."Axl said looking at X's forehead. "What happened?"

"After X found me, we were ambushed... By Vile." Vee replied with a frown. "He hit X on the head with an iron bar... The blow was so hard it gave him a concussion."

"Vile... I should've known he had something with this!" Zero growled. Anger burner brightly in his eyes. "When I get him..."

"Don't worry about that guy." Gargantuan said. "I already took care of him."

Alpheon crossed his arms. "You took care of him?" He asked. "Wait. Then it was you who who beat Vile up after we split up."

"Basically, yeah." Gargantuan said. "While running, I overheard Vile ordering his goons to catch one of Zero's friends. When I realized what he was planning, I went back." A sigh. "Unfortunately, I didn't arrive in time to stop him from hurting X."

"At least you stopped him before he could do some real damage." Vega said.

"Yeah. Vile got what he deserved." Vee said. "Anyway, after that, Gargantuan picked X up and took us to his house. He tended to X's wounds and checked on his while he was resting. I tried to call you guys in the meantime, but with one server down for maintence, my PET wasn't working."

"Okay... That explains all but one thing." DMZ said. "Why did we find X's cap next to the subway entrance?"

"The subway? Well, I live two blocks from there, but..." Gargantuan started.

"I can explain that." Vee said as everybody glanced at him. "I was holding X's jacket and his cap while Gargantuan carried him. I was so scared and worried I must've dropped it without noticing."

A soft groan interrupted the conversation. The gang stared suprised as X opened his eyes. "Hhmm... Wha?" He asked as his voice came out as a small whisper. He looked around as much as he could before spotting Alia and Zero. "Zero? Alia?"

"It's okay, X. We're all here." Zero smiled at him.

"Are you okay, X?" Alia asked worried.

"I am now..." X replied with a faint smile as he closed his eyes. "Sorry for worrying you all... I was reckless."

Zero shook his head with a sigh. X never changed: here he was, tired and wounded and he was still more worried about his friends than about himself. "What am I gonna do with you, X?"

"Heh, he was worried sick about you guys." Gargantuan said. "And since he wasn't in shape to walk, I decided to bring him home. Vee showed the way."

"You did a lot for us... Gargantuan..." X said as he slowly fell asleep. "Thank... you..."

In a matter of seconds, X was fast asleep again.

"Man, the kid is even more tired than he looks." P. Shadow said.

"Better take him to his room." Axl suggested.

"I can do that." Gargantuan said.

"By the way, Gargantuan..." Zero started.

"I know you remember me now, Zero." Gargantuan said. "Let's chat after we get X into a more confortable place."

Zero nodded with a small smiel. Along with Axl, Alia, Star and Vee, he and Gargantuan entered the building.

"I'm glad everything is okay now." Layer smiled a bit.

"Me too." Pallette agreed. "I just hope X'll be okay."

"He may not look, but he is tough." Kazegama said. "I mean, from what Vee told us, X got one nasty concussion. It's amazing he was able to stay awake, even if it was for just a few minutes, after taking a blow like that. Most people would've reamained out cold for days!"

"I dread to think what could've happened to X and Vee if Gargantuan hadn't interfered." Faust shuddered.

"You said it, dude." Vega said. "Say, you guys think Vile might go after them and Zero again?"

"I'm afraid that's possible." Rigel replied with a sigh. "Vile seems to be determinated to have his revenge."

"In other words, anyone close to Zero, namely us, can be a target." Precursor Shadow concluded.

"Well, if he tries to do anything with our gang, he'll be receiving a real smackdown from me!" StarZ said cracking his knuckles.

As the group talked, Alpheon suddenly felt that someone was watching them from a nearby alley. Quietly, he left the group and entered the alley to investigate. "I know you're here." He said. "Come on out and show yourself!"

Slowly a teen walked out from behind a nearby dumpster. "I knew you'd find me sooner or later." He said looking at Alpheon.

Alpheon recognized the teen. "You? You're the guy that gave me Vee's nametag!" He said. "Who are you anyway?"

"You'll know when the time comes." The teen replied. "For now, I'm here to give you and your friends a warning: once Vile finds out who beat him up, he'll do whatever it takes to get revenge and that includes dirty and dishonorable tricks. The fighter, the kid and the blue cap teen will be probably targeted by him or his gang. Also, you should watch over that Star girl."

Alpheon crossed his arms. "And how do you know so much?" He asked. "Just what is your cause?"

"I'm looking for someone." The teen replied looking deep into Alpheon's eyes. "And you? Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Alpheon asked "I... I am..."

"Alpheon? Hey, Alpheon." A voice called.

Alpheon turned his face to the left and found DMZ standing next to him. "DMZ?"

"Hey, ninja, what's with the sneaking out?" DMZ asked.

"Someone was watching us." Alpheon replied looking at where the unknown teen stood. He was nowhere to be seen. "He's gone..."

"You know who it was?" DMZ asked.

"The guy that gave us Vee's tag." Alpheon replied. "He said that some of us are more likely to be targeted by Vile's gang."

"And how does he know that?" DMZ asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure." Alpheon clenched one fist. "But I won't let anyone harm our friends! Not him nor Vile!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

At the dorm, Gargantuan was talking with Zero and Axl after he laid X on his bed and covered him with some sheets. Alia, Vee and Star stayed at X's room to check on him.

"So, you're that guy that had that awesome fight with Zero?" Axl said. "Man, and I didn't recognise ya."

"Can't blame ya. After I took a break from street fighting, I got a new wardrobe, uncluding this headband." Gargantuan chuckled. "Guess the cover worked better than expected."

Zero chuckled a bit. "Guess so." He said. "Anyway, Gargantuan, I guess you found what you were looking for."

"Yeah..." Gargantuan smiled. "My true strenght... I've finally found it. By protecting people, I can unlock my true power."

Zero nodded in approval. "Of course, you know what else that means."

"Yep, but I'd rather wait a bit more for your rematch." Gargantuan smirked. "It'll take a while 'til your shoulder's fine. Besides, you got more important things to worry about, like taking care of X. I've waited until now, I can wait a bit more. Just le me know when ya ready."

"Why don't you hang out with us then?" Star asked as she walked out of X's room with Alia and Vee. "Gargantuan, you saved Axl and Pallette, you came to our aid when those punks attacked, not to mention you saved X and Vee from Vile and took care of them. Needless to say, you're a true and loyal guy with an heart of gold. It'd be an honor to be your friend."

"Gee... I don't know." Gargantuan scratched the back of his head. "I mean, most people'd be unconfortable with a street fighter around."

"Get serious, buddy! It'd be awesome to have you around, buddy." Axl said. "And besides, with a bunch like ours, why would we feel unconfortable by your presence?"

"Yeah, our gang has four ninjas and a gambler and we all get along just fine!" Vee said smiling. "Also, I bet X would be really happy to have you as a part of the team."

"Speaking of which, how's he?" Gargantuan asked.

"Fast asleep." Alia replied. "You did a great job tending to his wounds. They're healing just fine. We just changed the bandages just in case."

"Glad to hear that." Gargantuan said before looking at Zero and Axl. "Well, I suppose I can give it a try. I'm tired of training alone anyway."

The gang smiled. "Heh, welcome to the gang, Gargantuan." Zero smirked holding out his good arm to Gargantuan.

"Thanks." Gargantuan smiled as they shook hands.

Suddenly, Vee yawned. "I think it's time to go home." Star said picking him up. "Vee's tired and it's pretty late."

"I guess so. We all had a long day." Alia said.

"Star... If we really have to go now, can we visit X tomorrow?" Vee asked.

"Of course, Vee." Star smiled. "We'll check on him tomorrow."

Vee smiled as he rested his head on Star's shoulder. He looked really sleepy.

Axl glanced at the window. "Hey, the others are still waiting downstairs." He said. "Guess they want some news."

"Well, let's go down." Zero decided. "X needs to sleep anyway."

The group nodded.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Alpheon and the gang were talking when Zero and the others arrived. "So, how's X?" The Black Ninja asked.

"Sleeping like a baby." Axl smirked.

"A few days resting and he'll be as good as new." Gargantuan added.

"Speaking of resting..." Vega yawned. "I could use some zee too."

"You said it." Kazegama rubbed his eyes. "I'm beat."

The others nodded. "All of us are tired, that's for sure." Star said as she held the now sleeping Vee. "We all should go home and rest now that X and Vee are safe."

"Star's right. Thanks for the help, everybody." Zero said. "Sorry for dragging you all into this mess, though."

"Meh, don't sweat about it." StarZ shrugged. "Something like that was bound to happy anyway. Luckily, it's over now."

"I agree. However, I don't think we've seen the last of Vile and his bunch." Faust said with a sigh. "That scoundrel is as stubborn as evil."

"True, but thanks to the beating Gargantuan gave him, we won't be seeing Your Ugliness for a while." DMZ said.

"Got that right. Also, his thugs won't have the guts to attack without his orders." P. Shadow added.

"Still, we'll need to be cautious for a while." Alpheon said looking at Gargantuan. "That goes to you too, Gargantuan. Maybe you should stick with us."

"You guys don't mind?" Gargantuan asked.

"Of course not." Alpheon smiled patting Gargantuan's back. "Anyone that fights to protect others and also helps out my friends not only earns my respect but my friendship as well."

"I'm with the Black Ninja on that one." StarZ smirked. "Maybe we can spar some day. I heard you got some cool moves."

"Heh, okay." Gargantuan smirked. "But don't expect me to go easy on ya just because you're a kid."

"HEY!! I'm sixteen already!" StarZ scowled.

The others laughed at that. "Okay, guys, enough fooling around." Star giggled. "Let's head home. It's pretty late now."

The others nodded in agreement. Everybody waved good bye and the all went to their homes.

"Phew... Talk about a long day." Axl sighed.

"Tell me about it." Zero said. "You go to bed. I'll keep an eye on X."

"Hey, you need some rest too, Zero." Axl said. "We can take turns watching over him. X's my friend too, ya know."

Zero chuckled. "Fine. I won't argue with you." He said. "Let's go."

Axl nodded and they both entered the building.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

After the incident, X had to stay in bed for some days in order to recover from his concussion so Zero and Axl took turns watching over him. Though X couldn't move much, that didn't stop him from checking on Zero's shoulder while Axl usually changed both teens' bandages.

Alia, Layer and Pallette visited the three friends everyday to help them. Alia often checked on X's wounds and she'd also help him with the schoolwork she often brought for him. Layer checked on Zero's shoulder to make sure it was healing properly while she gave him some simple exercises to regain its movements. As for Pallette, she made sure Axl didn't tire himself out watching over his elder friends.

In the meantime, the rest of the gang also tried to help on both teen's recovery asides from often visiting them. Star and Vee brought X some books or keept him company. Alpheon, DMZ and StarZ, aided by Gargantuan who now hung out with the gang, were on the look out from any activity from Vile's gang or the mysterious teen with the help of Faust and the other three ninjas who'd report to Zero what they had uncovered. Even Precursor Shadow did his part when he found out that several bikers from Vile's gang had been arrested on the same day the gang ran into them. Slowy, things were getting back to normal.

Finally, two weeks after the incident, both X and Zero wer fully healed. Since it was a beatiful spring day and both teens had been cooped up at home for a while the gang decide to spend the day at the park to have some fun.

X took a deep breath."This feels great!" He smiled before he and Alia sat under a huge tree. "The wheather is so nice."

"True. We couldn't have chosen a better day to come here." Alia said.

"You said it." Star agreed as she joined them. She glanced at X with a smile. "You're quite enjoying yourself, huh, X?"

"Well, I guess I'm just happy for being here." X chuckled. "I mean, after two weeks stuck on my room, it's nice to be somewhere else for a change."

Both girls giggled at that before the three friends looked around the area to see what their friends were doing.

Vega was busy tinkering with his guitar while Faust polished his flute. Next to them were Rigel and Kazegama. The elder teen was showing Rigel a book that seemed to be really interesting since she was leaning closer to him take a better glance at it. That made Kazegama blush a lot, but Rigel didn't seem to notice it.

Layer and Pallette chatted with DMZ and Zero who was also doing a few push-ups. After his shoulder had recovered, he wanted to make up for the time he was unable to train. Watching them all with a smirk, Precursor Shadow sat on a tree branch while shuffling his playing cards.

Alpheon was teaching Vee a few moves. Axl and StarZ watched them while chatting. "You can't be serious." StarZ said. "Gargantuan is the legendary street fighter known as Gate?"

"That's what Zero told me." Axl replied. "Also, if you consider his fighting style it kinda makes a lot of sense."

"Still, it's kinda hard to believe that." StarZ said looking at Gargantuan. The young fighter was taking a nap under a tree. "I mean, just look at him."

"Well, he really doesn't look like a fighter, but he is one." Axl shrugged.

"Right, but how about we figure out if he is that good?" StarZ smirked crossing his arms.

Slowly, StarZ snuck up on Gargantuan trying to pull a prank on him by pretending to punch him. "GOTCHA!" StarZ suddenly yelled jumping at him.

Gargantuan opened one eye and smirked. "I don't think so!" He said as he quickly rolled out of the way. Without warning, he grabbed StarZ by his ankle. "What were ya saying?" He mocked as he got up while lifting StarZ.

"Gah! You were listening?!" StarZ said as he tried to get down.

"Well, you and Axl are pretty noisy, ya know." Gargantuan laughed. "It's kinda hard to get some sleep with ya two chit chatting."

Axl burst into laughter. "Told ya he meant business."

"Okay! Okay! I got the point!" StarZ yelled. "Now get me down, will ya?!"

Gargantuan laughed as he gently put StarZ down. "Very funny." StarZ scowled crossing his arms before he glared at Axl.

"Hey, don't look at me." Axl snickered. "It was your idea remember?"

Vee and Alpheon walked up to them. "Hey, what's with all the laughter, guys?" Alpheon asked.

"Let's just say StarZ's little prank backfired." Gargantuan smirked.

"I see..." Alpheon said looking at StarZ's sulking face before he glanced at Gargantuan. "Hey, Gargantuan, wanna spar?"

"Sure, but I won't hold back just because we're friends." Gargantua smirked clenching his fist.

"I'd have it no other way." Alpheon smirked back at him before he got into a fighting stance.

StarZ suddenly smirked and got up. "How bout a three way?" He grinned. "I'd like to see how well I've been doing reccently."

Alpheon and Gargantuan nodded. Vee and Axl backed away.

"A three way battle? Heh, that'll be cool to see." Axl said.

"I've never seen a that kind of battle." Vee said.

"In that case, Vee, you might learn a few things with this match." Alpheon said looking at StarZ and Gargantuan. "Okay, you two, give me you all!"

"Bring it on!" Gargantuan said.

The three friends charged at each other. Without wasting time, Alpheon knocked Gargantuan down with a low kick and then tried to hit StarZ wit some fast punches, but StarZ managed to dodge them all and then he threw Alpheon over his shoulder only to be tackled down by Gargantuan.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Vee said. "Awesome!"

While StarZ was down, Gargantuan and Alpheon exchanged heavy blows when they attempted a charging attack. However, they hit each other at the same time and collapsed with their eyes spinning. They both were dizzy.

"Ow... That must've hurt." Vee winced.

"Guess the fight's over." Axl said.

"Fight's over?" Alpheon and Gargantuan asked in unison as they got up still feeling a bit dizzy.

"I don't think it is." StarZ replied rushing to them and then the trio got into a fighting frenzy.

"All right... Let's get this going on!" Gargantuan said as he grabbed Alpheon by the leg.

"Wha?!" Was all Alpheon could say before he was thrown into StarZ leaving both teens dazed.

"Ow!" StarZ cried before he leapt in the air and kicked Gargantuan while Alpheon did a sweep kick tripping him up.

When StarZ least expected, Alpheon kicked him into a nearby tree, but StarZ came back down and knocked him into another tree before getting punched by Gargantuan across the face and on the stomach.

Gargantuan kept pummeling StarZ until Alpheon tackled him down.

While the two brawled, StarZ dropped to one knee while holding his stomach. Realising that both teens were distracted, he got back up, picked Gargantuan up and threw him at Alpheon.

"Gah, I think I pulled something." StarZ winced as he saw Gargantuan and Alpheon getting back up.

When all three friends were ready, they started running into a circle looking for an opening. Finally they charged at each other and hit each other at the same time.

StarZ flung into a three and feel hitting the ground out cold. Alpheon staggered a bit and fell on back. As Gargantuan stood, Axl and Vee swooped in to see the condition of the winner only to find him out cold as well!

"A three way tie?" Axl asked. "Wow..."

"You don't see that everyday." Vee stated.

By now, the trio's sparring had caught the gang's atention. DMZ and Zero walked up to Axl and Vee. "Hey, what's with all the racket?" DMZ asked before spotting the others out cold. "Huh? What happened?"

"They were showing me how a three way fight works." Vee replied.

"Really? Looks more like 'Knock yourself out 101' to me." Zero snickered.

_Twenty minutes later..._

"OW!" StarZ winced as Star put an ice bag on his back. "Easy there, Star!"

"Hold still, StarZ. I'm almost done." Star scolded as she, Rigel and Alia tended to StarZ, Alpheon and Gargantuan's wounds. "Honestly, I can't figure out how you guys managed to hurt yourselves that much on a simple sparring session."

"Guess we got a bit carried away." Alpheon said with a sheepish smile as he put an ice bag on his head. "Man, that smarts..."

"A bit carried away? I'm surprised you guys didn't give each other a black eye while training." Kazegama crossed his arms.

"Hey, we were just having some fun." Gargantuan said before Alia gave him an ice bag to put on his arm. "Thanks, Alia."

"Don't mention it." Alia said. "I actually brought these for X and Zero in case they need it, but I think you'll need them more."

"Pretty ironic, isn't it?" P. Shadow chuckled as he stayed on his spot.

"Okay, so we made a bit of fools outta ourselves. Big deal." StarZ shrugged. "Next match will be different."

"Next?" Pallette raised an eyebrow. "I can't believe you guys. You just beat yourselves up and you still want more?"

"Hey, there has to be a winner ya know." Alpheon shrugged.

Rigel rolled her eyes. "The harder I try to understand you boys, the more confused I get." She sighed.

Zero started laughing. "I don't really blame. After all, real fighters are always on the look out for new challenges." He said. "That reminds me. I'm ready to spar too."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Zero?" Layer asked.

"Don't worry about me, Layer." Zero replied with a grin. "My shoulder is as good as new and I've been pretty rusty." He glanced at they boys. "So, who's up for it?"

All the boys exchanged glances. When Zero wanted to spar, he meant business and everybody knew that. "I am." A voice suddenly replied.

Everybody, even Zero, was surprised. Not only because someone was willing to spar with an eager Zero, but because that someone was none other than X! "It sounds like a good idea." X said getting up. "I could use some exercise as well."

"X, are you sure about this?" Alia asked.

"Don't worry, Alia." X smiled at her. "I know what I'm doing."

"Jeez... Maybe X got hit on head harder than we thought." Vega whispered to Faust. "Facing Zero when he's eager to spar is crazy!"

"I heard that, Vega." X said looking at the rocker who yelped startled. X chuckled. "I know this sounds kinda weird, guys, but trust me, I'm okay. And besides, sooner or later, I'll have to spar too."

"X..." Zero said.

"Hey, he's got a point." Gargantuan smirked a bit. "Give the kid a chance, Zero. This is gonna be good."

"Heh, okay." Zero grinned. "All right, X, let's do this."

X nodded. Both friends headed to the area where his friends were previously sparring and they got into defensive stances.

"You ready, Zero?" X asked.

"Bring it on!" Zero replied charging at X. He tried to punch X who easily blocked by crossing his arms in fron of his face.

"Hey, that was a pretty good move." Faust pointed out. "However, I don't recall seeing X using a move like that."

"Me neither." Axl said. "I wonder where he learned that."

Gargantuan just smirked. He seemed to know something.

Zero tried to counter with a roundhouse kick, but X raised his arm and blocked again. The younger teen then did a sweep kick that knocked Zero off his feet, but he did a back flip to regain his balance. _"Hhmm... Something's up with X."_ He thought as he steadied himself. _"He's fighting for real without holding back." _A smirk. _"I am so gonna enjoy this."_

Before Zero could create any other thought, X tried to hit him with a serie of fast punches and kicks. Zero dodged a few blows and then countered with his own blows. They weren't able to hit each other very often because they were moving so fast, the gang could barely keep up with them.

"They're so fast!" Vee said amazed.

"X's no longer hesitating when he fights." DMZ stated. "One can see the determination on his face. He's putting all his efforts on this match and so is Zero. None of them is holding back."

"I knew X had a great potential, but not like that!" Alpheon said.

The others nodded in agreement. Everybody was amazed with X's skills. Sure, they knew Zero had trained X since they were kids, but X's strong dislike of violence was his most striking feature. It was kinda hard to believe that such pacifist like him could also be a skilled fighter. Then again, they also knew that X could be a force to be wrecking with when he wanted to.

The gang turned their attention back to X and Zero. X was backing away while blocking and dodging Zero's punches when he tripped on a small rock and started falling backwards. Zero took the opportunity and lunged at X, but he wasn't ready for what was coming next: while falling, X grabbed both Zero's arms and planted one foot on his stomach before throwing the blond teen a few yards away with a kick throw.

"Whoah!" Zero yelled before he fell flat on his back with a loud thud. He lied there motionless.

Everybody watched with their jaws dropped. "Did you... Did you guys see that?" Axl asked with wide eyes.

"I see it, but I don't believe it." StarZ replied with a blank look on his face.

X stood up looking surprised as well. Slowly, he walked up to Zero. "Zero?" He called. "Zero, are you okay?"

Everybody was surprised to hear a chuckle. Zero got himself into a sitting position before he glanced at X with a grin. "Good going, X." He said. "You really got me back there."

X smiled a bit embarassed before he helped Zero up. Vee ran up to them. "That was great! That was great!" The little tyke said jumping up and down. "You two rock!"

X and Zero just laughed at Vee's hyper atitude. "Okay, okay. We got your point, kid." Zero smirked. "Now take it easy, will ya?"

Vee giggled putting his hands behind his head. "Well, I guess you two had fun." He said. "You two look really happy."

"Well, I have to admit that felt pretty good." X smiled a bit.

"Yo, X!" Vega called. "Where'd ya learn all those cool moves?"

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Axl said. "How did ya do it?"

"Well, let's just say a friend gave me a few tips." X replied glancing at Gargantuan with a smile.

Gargantuan grinned at X. "Using your opponent's strenght agains him..." He said giving X a thumbs up. "You learned that lesson pretty well, X."

"So that's what you two were talking about while we were heading to the park." Kazegama smirked. "Smooth move, X."

"Yeah. You really showed Zero a thing or two." Alpheon grinned before he gave X a noogie. "Way to go."

"Knock it off, Alpheon! Let go!" X laughed as he tried to get free of Alpheon's grasp. "I just got lucky. That's all."

"You're too modest for your own good, X." P. Shadow with an amused tone.

The others laughed at that while Zero just crossed his arms. _"Heh, X sure lives up to his name: his potential is limitless."_ He thought grinning a bit. _"Way to go, X. I'm proud of you."_ He then glanced at the other boys. "Okay, I lost a match, so what? You guys wanna take me on now?"

The boys stopped laughing and exchanged nervous glances. Zero smirked. "That answers my question."

X laughed softly as Alpheon let go of him. "Well, while you guys figure that out, I'm gonna get some water." He said. "I'm thirsty."

"X, can I come too?" Vee asked tugging X's jacket.

"Of course, Vee." X smiled at the littke kid.

"Yay! Let's go!" Vee squealed running off.

"Hey! Wait up!" X said running after Vee.

"Oh boy... X may be a good fighter, but Vee can still give him a run for his money." DMZ snickered before glancing at Zero. "Hey, Zero, you don't look surprised about X beating ya."

"X's tougher than he thinks." Zero shrugged. "Besides, when ya have a great match, it doesn't really matter who wins or loses."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

X ran across the park trying to catch up with Vee. "Vee, slow down!" He said panting a bit. "Wait up!"

Vee stopped running so X could catch up with him. "Sorry." He said with a sheepish smile. "I guess I got a bit carried away."

X smiled and patted Vee on the head. "It's okay." He said. "I guess it's natural for a na athletic kid like you."

"Well, look what I found." A voice mocked. "A wimp and a brat."

X and Vee frozed when they heard that voice. They spunned around. "Vile?!" They gasped.

"Long time no see, X." Vile sneered. "I see you managed to survive."

"Not thanks to you, Vile." X narrowed his eyes as he stood in front of Vee. "Can't you leave me and my friends alone?"

"Not a chance." Vile hissed. "Thanks to you and your pals, half of my gang is behind the bars and the other half is too chicken to fight anymore." He drew an iron bar. "Now it's payback time."

"Vee, run!" X told the little kid. "You must warn Zero and the others."

"But, X..." Vee tried to argue.

"GO NOW!" X yelled.

Vee hesitated, but he ran off.

"Don't want the kid to see ya being beaten up again, X?" Vile laughed.

"Vile, you've already caused too much trouble for my friends." X clenched his fists getting ready to fight. "I won't let you hurt them!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Back to the gang, everybody was chilling when they heard yells. "Star! Zero!" Vee cried running towards them. The little kid looked really agitated. "Guys! Help!"

"Vee? What's wrong?" Star asked worried as Vee embraced her.

"It's X... He is trouble!" Vee panted trying to catch his breath. "Vile's back!"

"What?!" The gang yelled.

"Vile's back and he's totally mad!" Vee replied.

"Don't tell me X told you to warn us while he dealt with Vile alone." Faust said getting up.

Vee nodded looking nervous. "I didn't want to leave him, but..."

"Vile..." Zero growled. There was so much anger on his voice the gang could tell he hasn't forgotten what Vile had done to X. "He's not getting away with this!"

StarZ cracked his knuckles. "Looks like that scumbag didn't get the hint last time."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rigel said. "C'mon!"

The others nodded and the gang ran off.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

X rolled out of the way to dodge Vile's blow. The large biker tried with all his might, but he couldn't hit the younger teen. "Argh! What's going on here?" Vile asked frustrated. "Ya went down with a single blow last time! Why can't I hit ya?!"

"Vile, you really don't understand, do you?" X asked. "You rely on ambushes and dirty tricks and without them, you can't win."

"Oh yeah? And what does a weakling like you know?" Vile growled.

"I may be weak. I won't deny that." X said. "But, unlike you, I don't fight without a reason! I fight for my friends! To protect them from people like you! And as long as I have that goal, no harm will come to them!"

"Quit talking trash!" Vile roared lunging at him. "Who needs a reason to fight? The strong rules and the weak bows before him!"

"I see it's pointless to argue with you." X sighed assuming a defensive stance. "It's time to finish this!"

Vile raised the bar above his head and tried to hit X. However, the young teen grabbed it on the very last second with his bare hands!

"What the hell?!" Vile yelled in disbelief. "That's impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible, Vile." X said as he yanked the bar off Vile's hands and tossed it away. "Give it up. There's no sense on continuing this."

"I don't think so!" Vile yelled throwing a punch at X who was caught off guard and fell down. "I'll do whatever it takes to be the strongest and it's not a wimpy kid like you that that's gonna stop me! Game's over, X!"

Vile tried to kick X while he was down, but X grabbed his leg and did a sweep kick to knock him down, giving X enough time to get back on his feet.

The leader biker quickly got up and he was furious. "That's it! I'm through messing around!" Vile roared throwing several punches at X.

The flurry of furious punches from Vile gace X no time to dodge and the young teen was getting beaten up really badly. "_I... I can't lose..."_ X thought trying to focus. "_I've got only one shot!"_

When X saw Vile's fist heading straight to his face, X caught it with his left hand. "This ends now, Vile!" He yelled giving Vile a powerful uppercut that not only knocked his biker helmet off but it also sent Vile flying into a tree.

Tired and wounded, X breathed heavily as Vile got up. Blood ran down his mouth and he looked even more furious. "Damn you, X! You're gonna pay for this!" He hissed when he suddenly heard police sirens. "Crud... I'll let ya off this time, X, but you haven't seen the last of me!"

Quickly, Vile ran away.

"I'm glad this is over..." X sighed relieved when he heard something. "Huh?"

"X!" His friends yelled as they ran up to him.

"X, you okay?" Alia asked with worried tone.

X slowly turned around and smiled faintly at the others. "I'm okay..." He said. "Just a few scratches."

"You were great! You really showed Vile who's boss!" Axl said. "Man, you wipped the floor with him!"

X looked at his friend surprised. "Huh? You guys...?"

"Well, we couldn't just sit around after Vee told us Vile was back." Pallette said. "Also, who do ya think called the cops?"

"I see..." X said before sighing.

"What's wrong, X?" Layer asked.

"Even though Vile lost, I don't think he'll leave us alone." X stared at the sky. "I'm afraid we'll be seeing a lot more of him from now on."

"Some guys are hard to get rid of." Zero shrugged. "Anyway, X, you shouldn't worry about him. You beat him once, so you can do it again."

"Zero..." X said.

"He's got a point, you know." Vee said.

"X, you're stronger than you think. If you believe in yourself, you can find your true strenght and do anything." Gargantuan said. "Also, you got us as a backup."

The gang nodded. X smiled. "Thanks... Zero, Gargantuan... Everyone... Thanks for everything."

Everybody smiled. "Hey, that's what friends are for." DMZ said.

As the gang chatted, the mysterious teen watched them from behind a tree. _"Daisuke's friend is more skilled than I expected. It's not everyone that can beat Vile on a one-on-one match even with all his dirty tricks."_ He thought walking away. _"Well done, X."_

Thanks to the gang and his new friend, Gargantuan, X was able to beat the odds and became more confident. More challenges would come, but now X knew he could overcome them all as long as he had his friends by his side.

_A/N: On the original rp, Gargantuan was created from Gate's body. Just for the record. I hope you guys enjoyed it. More chapters soon to come._


End file.
